Strong evidence suggests that adherence to the FSC Pacific Coast Standard results in improved water quality over and above the Washington Forest Practices Act (WA FPA) and the Oregon Department of Forestry requirements. An internal analysis of all Northwest forest management standards by EPA Region 10 found that the FSC Pacific Coast Regional Standard was the only non-federal standard likely to comply with the water quality requirements of the Clean Water Act. In addition, EPA determined that the Pacific Coast Standard meets or exceeds NOAA Fisheries recommendations in Forest Practices on Non-Federal Lands and Pacific Salmon Conservation as well as EPA’s recommendations in EPA Guidance Specifying Management Measures for Sources of Non-point Source Pollution in Coastal Waters (EPA 840-B-92-002, Chap. 3 Forestry Measures, 1/93). 

In partnership with staff at Oregon State University and EPA, NNRG is in the process of developing a quantitative analytical model to confirm EPA’s conclusions and firmly establish the baseline ‘additionality’ of FSC performance over WA FPAs in terms of improved water quality. This additionality is a marketable commodity that can be bundled with existing FSC timber markets, as well as carbon sequestration markets, to make a comprehensive incentive package for ecological management of non-industrial forestlands.  NNRG and OSU are currently in the planning stages for a multiyear paired watershed study in both Oregon and Washington to document the impacts of FSC management on water quality. 

Expanding on our experience in building certified wood markets, and recognizing the lessons of other regional water quality trading programs, NNRG is working to leverage existing partnerships to create trading and/or credit programs in various watersheds as an additional incentive to maintain sustainably managed working forestlands. 

Our goal is to create a forestry based water quality credit that can be used in the existing trading system in the Tualatin Watershed in Oregon, or applied to a new pilot trading system in the Nisqually Watershed as a partner of the Nisqually River Foundation who recently received a nearly $900,000 EPA Targeted Watershed Grant.  This puts NNRG on the cutting edge of forestry based water quality credit development in working to develop credits for both restoring impaired water quality areas (Tualatin) and preserving threatened but healthy watersheds (Nisqually).