Forest Certification Catching On In North America

Forest certification gained strength in the North American forest sector over the past year, according to a new report by Certification Watch.

The report shows that in the U.S., the Sustainable Forestry Initiative program was highly active in 2O02, with a revision of the standard aimed at the protection of forests with exceptional conservation value and the first use and subsequent promotion of the SFI on-product label.

The development of Forest Stewardship Council regional standards in the U.S. continued, while two standards were approved by FSC-International for two major timber producing regions. Substantial work was carried out to modernize the Tree Farm System and to ensure its mutual recognition with the SFI.

In Canada, the province of New Brunswick made forest certification compulsory on public forest lands, making it the first jurisdiction in the world to mandate forest certifi- cation to licensees. The Forest Products Association of Canada decided to require forest certification for membership in the organization beyond 2006. The Canadian Standards Association standard underwent a significant revision, while regional standard development continued under the FSC, particularly for B.C. and the boreal forests.

The year 2OO2 saw substantial increases in certified areas in North America. The SFI program recorded significant gains in 2OO2, with total certified acreage in North America reaching 70.7 million acres. Since last year, the total areas certified to SFI increased by 9.6 million acres in the U.S. and 1 1.2 million acres in Canada.

CSA-certified areas grew by 637o Io reach 36 million acres. FSC-certified areas covered a total of l2 million acres in North America.

Leeds Sells Atlanta Units To Hope

Leeds Building Products, Kennesaw, Ga., has sold its five Atlanta, Ga., locations to 27-unit Hope Lumber & Supply, Broken Arrow, Ok.

The sale leaves Leeds with I I units in South Carolina, the Florida panhandle, and other parts ofGeorgia.

Driver Plows Into Lumber Building

Mar(Vour Cafen/ar!!!

Date: April 29,2003

Place: Florence City-County Civic Center

Florence, South Carolina

Time: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm WHY

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A motorist was killed after crashing into G.A. Miller Lumber Co., Williamsport, Md.

According to police, Matthew Scott Comer Sr., 33, died at the scene of the accident 3:30 a.m. Jan. 25 after his vehicle left the road at a turn, traveled through a culvert, and slammed into the lumber building.

Revised Pricing Not Random

Gain

Random Lengths will begin in April to report the prices of western spruce, pine and fir to reflect the mill price plus the lowest published rail freight rate to Chicago from Prince George, B.C., resulting in increases of $25 to $26 per thousand bd. ft. in the reported prices of lumber.

Random Lengths' Jon Anderson said the changes will better represent lumber market conditions. "Chicago is the reference point, not only because the 'Merc' is there, but also a lot of western Canadian lumber is consumed in or moves through the Midwest," said Anderson.