In the News
From the forest to the framing: Two Central Oregon businesses commit to well-managed timberlands
Dan Sadowsky, From Ecotrust, May 2005
(BEND, OREGON) A partnership between Central Oregon's oldest
family-owned lumberyard and the Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs' forestry division is putting more wood from
well-managed forests into the homes of Bend-area residents.
Last year, 430,000 wooded acres of tribal land along the
eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains got the seal of
approval from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which sets
international standards for good forest practices. Miller
Lumber, a 94-year-old retailer with stores in Bend, Redmond,
Madras and Prineville, is going through a similar certification
process to assure its customers that they are purchasing wood
from well managed forests.
Since getting FSC certification at his Bend lumberyard in
October, CEO Charley Miller says he's sold "a lot of lumber" --
more than 1 million board feet of FSC-certified Douglas fir
from tribal-owned Warm Springs Forest Products Industries.
It's a partnership that links the forest to the framing.
Harvesting and selling FSC-certified wood ensures healthy,
long-lasting forests and a built environment that values the
region's timber ecology. For Miller Lumber and Warm Springs
Forest Products Industries, FSC certification is also a way to
showcase their environmental sensibilities and tap into the
growing “green-building” market.
"We're very pleased with the added value we've been able to
receive," says Larry Potts, CEO of Warm Springs Forest Products
Industries. "Today we have 27 different FSC-certified customers
who are buying our product."
One of those customers is Miller, whom Potts singles out for
his leadership. "Last year, Charley called Janet Corbett, our
sales manager, and said he was ready to start carrying our
product," Potts says. "He wanted to come in making the single
largest purchase of certified product. It was a great way to
start the relationship."
Miller says he first looked into stocking FSC-certified lumber
in 1999 in response to a request from a local architect. At the
time, however, FSC-certified lumber was scarce and
prohibitively expensive. But now with the certification of
nearby Warm Springs, Miller says, "We have a local source that
enables local builders to complete an entire job using
certified lumber."
The Forest Stewardship Council is a nonprofit organization that
supports environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and
economically viable management of the world's forests through
forest-management certification and marketplace labeling. Warm
Springs manages the largest tract of FSC-certified forestland
in Oregon. Around the globe, 121 million acres in 63 countries
have secured FSC approval.
"Initially we thought that the certified lumber would be a
small part of the yard," Miller says. "But then partway into
stocking the lumber, we made certified wood our primary
item."
He adds, "The real cost in getting certified is not financial,
it's in making the commitment: setting up separate SKUs on your
computer, training the employees on new procedures, carrying
more inventory. The cost of certified wood is slightly higher,
but because we buy it in volume and from a local source, the
cost to the end user is negligible."
Miller's customers appreciate his decision. Eagle Crest, Inc.,
for example, is using certified lumber at its newest venture,
1,800-acre Brasada Ranch in Powell Butte. The
destination-resort developer is hoping its 8,500-square-foot
sales center qualifies for Gold Certification from the U.S.
Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED) Program, which recognizes sustainable building
practices in commercial construction. "We'd never make that
certification without Miller Lumber's products being
FSC-certified," says Alan Van Vliet, the firm's director of
development.
Craftsman Homes is also excited about access to an affordable,
dependable supply of certified lumber, says Camille Scott,
project manager for the Bend-based homebuilder. Scott says the
company is using Miller's FSC-certified wood in the three dozen
homes it's erecting this year, most in NorthWest Crossing, a
Neo-Traditional, mixed-use development in Bend. Each home will
meet Earth Advantage criteria, an increasingly popular
non-profit program that encourages energy efficiency, indoor
air quality and environmental responsibility in residential
construction.
Using certified lumber in its homes, Scott says, helps
Craftsman attain Earth Advantage's high award levels and meet
the demands of homebuyers. "More and more buyers," she says,
"want to know their homes are being built with the environment
in mind."
Now, Miller Lumber and Warm Springs Forest Products Industries
will be partnering with Ecotrust, a Portland-based nonprofit
organization, to boost awareness of certified wood by
co-sponsoring an edition of Ecotrust's popular SectionZ
newspaper insert. SectionZ promotes FSC as a way for customers
to reward good forest management and will be delivered to
30,000 readers of the Bend Bulletin in June.
Miller says support from his customers, as well as from Warm
Springs and Ecotrust, has helped affirm his decision to stock
his yards with FSC-certified lumber. "It's part of a circle,"
he says. "We all want to see well-managed forests."
Citation:
Sadowsky, Dan. "From the Forest to Framing: Two Central
Oregon businesses commit to well-managed timberlands".
Ecotrust. 10 May 2005
<http://www.ecotrust.org/forestry/markets/forest_to_framing.html>.
