Thu, 30 Aug 2001
Spokane - Potlatch Corporation's 17,000-acre, intensively managed hybrid poplar plantation at Boardman, Oregon, has become the first such operation in North America to be independently certified by the Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC).
The Forest Stewardship Council, an international, independent,non-profit organization, promotes responsible forestry world wide while the Forest Stewardship Council-U.S., based in Washington, D.C., promotes the organization's market-based program in this country. Potlatch's pursuit of FSC certification at Boardman reflects the fact that segments of the U.S. lumber market have demonstrated a willingness to pay a premium for FSC
certified products.
Potlatch intends to capitalize on this segment of the market through an agreement to supply poplar logs to the Kinzua Resources LLC sawmill at Pilot Rock, Oregon, just south of Pendleton. The mill, which is FSC certified for
"chain of custody," will turn the light colored hardwood into lumber for furniture framing and other non-structural lumber products. The combination will assure Potlatch customers that FSC certified logs from Boardman will
pass through an FSC-certified sawmill. Kinzua and Potlatch are working together to establish markets for the certified lumber around the country.
"Our people at Boardman have demonstrated advanced and environmentally sound management that clearly meets the standards of the FSC and deserves recognition," said John Olson, vice president for the Resource Management
Division. "We offer our customers a certified guarantee that our poplar logs and byproducts come from an industrial tree plantation that is managed responsibly."
Potlatch is selling some of the fiber from the trees to Boise-Cascade's paper mill at Wallula Junction, Washington, and to Jeld-Wen, makers of a medium-density fiberboard called MDF Duraskin. Olson said the company underwent a tough assessment, and earned the recognition by meeting FSC
requirements and agreeing to certain management improvements. The company will also submit to annual field audits of performance, he added. "We will continually prove that we are managing some of the nation's most valuable
poplar plantations to the FSC forestry standards."
Potlatch was evaluated by and received certificates from FSC-accredited certifier Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) on August 24, 2001. Certifiers looked at environmental, economic, and social variables during
the process.
FSC certification is the first step for Potlatch at Boardman. To maintain certification, Potlatch must also undergo annual field audits to continue to meet standards and make improvements as required by FSC.
The company is working to bring 1.5 million acres of forestlands it owns in the states of Arkansas, Idaho, and Minnesota lands under the international environmental management standards of ISO 14001. Completion of this process is essential to third-party certification under the American Forestry and Paper Association's (AF&PA) Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), Olson
said.
