Green builders, foresters struggle with market for certified lumber

Each industry says it needs a guaranteed marketplace before sustainably harvested wood can take off in Oregon

Each industry says it needs a guaranteed marketplace before sustainably harvested wood can take off in Oregon.

Oregon’s timber companies and its green builders have reached a stalemate.

Large lumber companies say builder demand for certified sustainable wood isn’t large enough to justify the cost of certification. And home builders are less likely to use certified wood because both the supply and price are still uncertain.

“There’s a lot of misunderstanding on both sides,” Clark Brockman, an associate principal with Sera Architects, said.

But now is a critical time for the industries to come together as the Pacific Northwest gains international attention for its green building services, representatives from both industries said Monday at the 2007 Oregon Leadership Summit.

Cities and private developers are eager to advance green building policies and practices. And Oregon, which has set strict standards to regulate timber harvesting, is well-positioned to lead the world in green building expertise.

And so Oregon’s well-rooted timber companies for the past month have met with the emerging green building industry to address issues surrounding the supply and demand of the state’s certified lumber.

Oregon State University, the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, the Oregon Economic and Com-munity Development Department and the Oregon Forestry Depart-ment this month will craft an economic development strategy for the state’s forest industry.

Before cities can require new construction to meet green building standards, the state must adopt a forest management policy that balances the needs of both industries, said Dave Morman, a resource planner with the Oregon Department of Forestry.

“Oregon lacks a sustainable economic development strategy for the forest industry,” Morman said.

The state’s timber companies say they already face stiff competition from unregulated international competitors that can sell wood at cheaper prices. Certification standards, they say, would further hamper Oregon’s timber industry.

To start, both green builders and Oregon timber companies can work to keep illegally harvested wood out of the supply chain, which will help stabilize timber prices and allow Oregon companies to better compete globally, Lee Jimerson, manufacturing manager with the Portland-based Collins Cos., said.

And both sides should create different strategies for meeting the needs of commercial and residential construction, Brockman said.

Green building standards, such as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, or LEED, have been used for several years to certify sustainable commercial construction projects. But less than 2 percent of commercial construction projects employ wood.

Residential construction is the biggest opportunity for certified lumber. But facing smaller project budgets, home builders say they can’t pay more for certified wood.

“We don’t see evidence for environmental premiums in the residential market,” Matt Donegan, a cofounder of the Forest Capital Partners investment firm, said. “As the country seeks affordable housing ... Oregon doesn’t get the benefits of environmentally friendly” products.

Niche producers of certified wood already work closely with architects and builders to ensure a steady supply of wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Larger timber producers need to come to the table, Ryan Temple, a forest program director with Sustainable Northwest, said.

But larger producers, which compete more directly with international lumber suppliers, doubt Oregon can build a competitive advantage if it only produces certified lumber.

“If you’re competing in a world market, sustainability in a lot of cases is a big fraud,” Andrew Miller, CEO of Portland-based Stimson Lumber Co., said. “There’s no market for large-volume commercial products at any premium.”