Forestry Market Connections
Good forest management should be rewarded in the marketplace — that's the basic premise driving Ecotrust Forestry's Market Connections. Ecotrust is connecting the growing demand for responsibly harvested wood products with a network of land managers that have met the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standard for exemplary forestry.
The opportunity to link forest management directly to green building is unique to our backyard of Northwest Oregon. There is no other place in the country where a green building market is thriving within a stone's throw of commercial forestland and mills.
Green building, which provides enormous public and private benefits, is growing rapidly throughout the country, but especially in the Northwest. This growth is evidenced by the success of a certification system for green buildings, called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) developed by the U.S. Green Building Council that evaluates performance on environmental criteria such as site selection, energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality and the use of materials, including the use of FSC-certified wood. LEED projects now account for 20% of new public building construction and this market segment is growing quickly. Portland, along with other cities, now requires that all city-financed buildings be LEED-certified. The credit for FSC-certified wood under the LEED system has inspired a local renaissance of interest in forest certification and a flurry of chain-of-custody certifications in the region.
Our program is designed to build a sufficient inventory of certified forestlands in the project area and an effective distribution system to deliver product to green building projects in Portland and beyond. Program activities include:
- Creating and organizing demand by obtaining wood lists and purchase commitments from builders and developers
- Building the supply chain by recruiting distributors based on documented demand.
- Increasing certified land by documenting demand and reducing barriers to certification through pre-assessments, financing, and forming forest cooperatives.
- Providing bridge financing for purchases of standing inventory, equipment upgrades, and certifications through a short-term, highly leveraged revolving fund.
- Monitoring product flow, build communication, and promote success.
