Tide is turning slowing in favor of sale and use of "green" wood products. Might Canfibre stay in business long enough to see AllGreen MDF in Lowe's outlets?
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Wednesday 9 August 2000
U.S. building supplies giant won't buy wood
from 'Great Bear Rainforest'
Michael McCullough Vancouver Sun
The world's second-largest building supplies retailer has banned forest
products from B.C.'s so-called Great Bear Rainforest.
Lowe's Companies, Inc., of Wilkesboro, N.C., announced Tuesday a new
lumber and wood product procurement policy that specifically bans wood
from the area on B.C.'s central coast.
The company operates more than 600 Lowe's Home Improvement
Warehouse stores in 39 U.S. states, with 1999 sales of $23.8 billion Cdn.
About 0.5 per cent of its lumber supply comes from what environmentalists
call the Great Bear Rainforest.
Mark Kauffman, Lowe's vice-president of merchandising, admitted he could
not find the place on a map, but "it's certainly a name that means a lot to a
lot of people."
Lowe's spent nine months developing the policy in consultation with two
environmental groups, the Rainforest Action Network and the World
Resources Institute, along with suppliers, governments and industry
organizations, he said. The policy is aimed at helping protect "the world's
threatened forests."
"This is a banner day in B.C.," said Michael Brune, old-growth campaign
director for the San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network, on hand
for the announcement. "The age of predatory logging is over."
Brune said the decision will give a boost to the controversial Coast Forest
Conservation Initiative between forest companies and environmental groups
on the north and central coast.
He hopes it will impel "dinosaurs" such as International Forest Products Ltd.
back to the CFCI bargaining table. Interfor is the dominant licence-holder in
the area.
Brune said the B.C. government's Land and Resource Management Plan
process for the area is "woefully inadequate."
He added: "I think it's fair to say the government's protection policies haven't
worked. Lowe's move represents the new economy knocking on Canada's
door."
Kauffman suggested wood sourcing bans could be extended to other forests
as they are mapped and identified.
"This is not necessarily a destination. It's a journey," he said. In the future
Lowe's will examine areas such as the B.C. Interior, the boreal forest of
north Alberta and Saskatchewan and the national forests of the Pacific
Northwest.
Lowe's new policy will:
¥ Aggressively phase out the purchase of wood products from endangered
forests, including an immediate ban on wood from the Great Bear
Rainforest.
¥ Work with suppliers to encourage the maintenance of natural forests and
environmentally responsible forest practices.
¥ Give preference to independently certified suppliers, especially those
certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. (my emphasis)
¥ Work with customers to increase efficiency of wood use, by promoting
wood reuse, recycling and advanced framing techniques.
¥ Work with suppliers to increase the procurement of quality recycled,
engineered and alternative products.
A "Healthy Forests Advisory Board" featuring representatives of
environmental groups, the scientific community, suppliers, certification bodies
and buyer groups will oversee the policy's implementation.
Home Depot, the world's top wood retailer, introduced a similar set of wood
purchasing guidelines a year ago, requiring eco-certification for all its lumber.
Lowe's policy goes further by specifically targeting endangered forests,
Brune said.
Lowe's main supplier in B.C. isn't worried, however. Canadian Forest
Products Ltd. obtains most of its fibre from the northern Interior and already
has certification from the International Standards Organization, company
spokesman Lee Coonfer said. He said representatives from Lowe's and
RAN toured Canfor's operations in Fort St. John earlier this year and
Tuesday's announcement was not unexpected.
"They consider Canfor a model supplier," Coonfer said.
Others believe Lowe's decision is ill-informed, however.
"I'm disappointed to hear this announcement by Lowe's," Forests Minister
Jim Doyle said. Forestry in B.C. is already conducted in a sustainable
manner, Doyle said, noting that 56 per cent of the province's land use
planning process is complete. He said Lowe's did not contact him before
announcing the policy.
"I would hope that the Lowe's of the world would realize we have done a
tremendous amount of work," Doyle said.
Tom Tevlin, president of the Forest Alliance of B.C., called Lowe's move
cynical, saying the company buys virtually no lumber from the area of the
ban. It requires the company to do nothing while the B.C. forest industry
moves mountains to improve its practices, he argues.
"They are painting themselves green while we make the sacrifice," he said.
"In the short term we don't think it's going to have a great impact. In the
longer term we're very concerned."
Tevlin said the policy poses two threats to the forest industry: first, that
Lowe's decision could precipitate a domino effect among wood sellers, and
second, that the prohibition could extend to as-yet-unmapped stretches of the
boreal forest in the Interior and beyond.
"The boreal forest touches every province in this country. That's an issue
that should have all Canadians concerned," he said.
Les Kiss, general manager of forestry for the Coast Forest and Lumber
Association, also fears other retailers could follow Lowe's lead.
"They're huge. They're looked upon as opinion leaders," Kiss said.
He also questioned the reliance on Forest Stewardship Council certification.
Though it may be well-known internationally, the FSC is not yet set up to
create standards for B.C., he claims.
Most B.C. forest companies have obtained the less stringent International
Standards Organization's 14001 certification and some the Canadian
Standards Association seal of approval.
"We've got more than 2.2 million hectares of coastal forest that are off
limits," Kiss said. That compares with three million hectares of working
forest. "We're world leaders at protecting special forests.
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