Green wholesaler makes its move

qUSTAINABLE Northwest Wood

\)is moving into a larger warehouse in Portland. Or.. to make life easier for green building dealers in the West. The company distributes only sustainably grown and produced wood products from northern California, Oregon and Washington.

"We allow dealers to serve their green building markets without stocking the products themselves," said president Ryan Temple. "All too often the market connection was not being made-even though there was a fairly robust land base, milling infrastructure, and demand for the productbecause there often was not a standing supply of local inventory."

Sustainable Northwest is the forprofit subsidiary of the nonprofit Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities Partnership. The warehouse car- ries everything from 2x4s and flooring, to siding and decking. All the products come from FSC-certified forests, community-approved restoration and stewardship projects. or reclaimed sources.

"We are a wholesale business, selling to retail lumberyards, building material stores, brokers, design shops, and industrial customers across the West," said Temple.

Portland-based dealers who have purchased from the warehouse include Parr Lumber, Milwaukee Lumber, and ProBuild. In Seattle, Dunn Lumber and Oso Lumber are customers. California's Hayward Lumber is another.

Shipments have also gone out to customers in Hawaii, Utah, and Georgia who want sustainably grown western wood products.

"It's surprising the growth we've had," he said, noting that the warehouse has done well since it opened last fall in temporary quarters in Vancouver, Wa. The move to the larger, permanent facility in Portland should be completed by January.

Temple believes that the cost of locally grown and certified wood products-typically 5Vo to 25Vo more than standard lumber-should come down as the supply chain becomes more efficient and locally products become available.

Stephen Aiguier, who owns Green Hammer Construction in Portland and co-founded the city's Build Local Alliance, agrees. His company often uses certified lumber purchased from Parr Lumber and sourced through Sustainable Northwest.

He said that the "whole point is to allow wholesale distribution to happen for small foresters. We've been pretty successful on a micro scale of getting local wood headed through local hands to local projects, but we're at the point where we need to up the ante and start talking to larger builders and home supply stores."

Osmose Buys Competitor

Osmose has acquired the wood preservatives business of Sustain micronized copper/ACQ producer PhibroWood LLC.

The acquisition includes the assets PhibroWood used in the business, such as patents, patent applications, trademarks. trade names. equipment and inventories. The deal also resolves ongoing intellectual property disputes between the companies.

10 ft lengths fit

5 or 6 inch gutters - Installs with any kind ot roofing material.

Drip edge at front prevents "tiger striping" marks on gutters h"sefleo A00o wood for poven, long-tem pmiection against decay and bmiias, eYen in $e harshest enuironments