Bill Robbins was staring over an edge that he didn’t care to be standing on.  As lumber markets shuddered to a stand still, the warehouses at Alexander’s Lumber Mill quickly filled with hardwood lumber he couldn’t sell.  Already operating on a tight margin, Bill was faced with shutting down the mill for the first time in its nearly 70 year history. Bill had weathered many storms in the region’s economy, but nothing could have prepared him for the biggest economic crisis to hit the nation since the Great Depression. 

“We couldn’t sell a stick”, said Bill.  Other mills in the area were curtailing production and no longer buying logs as they wait for the economy to turn around and the housing market to pick back up.

Enter Scott Meyers, a friend of the mill who has been wholesaling their alder lumber since 1982.  Scott recently certified his company, Westcoast Hardwoods, through the Forest Stewardship Council in response to what he saw as a growing market for certified wood. 

“We’ve been in the alder business for over 26 years and have been hearing more and more requests from our customer base for FSC certified alder,” Scott said.  “Alexander Lumber Mill and Westcoast Hardwoods saw FSC certification as an opportunity to keep busy during the slowing economy with a niche market. It's been a fun and rewarding project.”

In fact, Scott is receiving enough requests for FSC alder lumber that he offered to buy nearly all of Alexander’s production if they switched to milling FSC logs.  “We believe FSC lumber will become a bigger part of our business as green building and demand for sustainably produced forest products become more of the norm.”

That made for a fairly compelling argument to Bill.  In September he met with Chad Davis of the Healthy Forests Healthy Communities Partnership, a consortium of regional wood products manufacturers that, amongst many services, provides FSC certification to small manufacturers.  Chad looked over Bill’s operation and discussed the details of tracking FSC logs and lumber separately from non-certified wood.  They came up with a simple plan to keep track of inventory and in October Alexander’s Lumber Mill became FSC certified.

Within a couple of weeks the first truckloads of FSC certified alder logs were headed to the mill from the Washington Department of Natural Resources and Northwest Trek, a wildlife park near Eatonville that is an FSC certified member of Northwest Certified Forestry.  Trek is in the process of thinning their forests to enhance wildlife habitat and alder is a by-product.

With strong FSC markets backing him, Bill is able to offer top-of-market prices for alder logs and is one of the few hardwood mills in the region that is still buying logs.  He is eager to buy more FSC logs and hopes that more small woodland owners throughout the region choose to certify their forests. If you are interested in becoming certified to sell to Alexander's, contact Kirk Hanson of Northwest Certified Forestry at 360-316-9317 or kirk@nnrg.org.