The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recently earned Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for the agency’s management practices on 145,000 acres of forested state trust lands. The geographic area covered by FSC certification is DNR’s South Puget Planning Unit that spans from the Kitsap Peninsula to the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, east of Seattle and Tacoma.

This development is expected to have significant positive impact on the emerging FSC industry in western Washington as it provides enough timber volume (approximately 26 million board feet per year) to guarantee larger sawmills the supply they need to commit to ongoing FSC production. A larger and more diverse set of certified sawmills benefits other forest landowners and wood product users as well: landowners have more incentive to get FSC certified as their options for selling logs increase; buyers benefit from a broader diversity of locally produced FSC products, more supply chain efficiencies, and more certified suppliers.

Bob Lewis of Columbia Vista Corporation, a timber purchaser and manufacturer of certified products, said, “DNR’s FSC certification and commitment to responsible stewardship parallels and supports Columbia Vista’s own environmental management plan for at least 90 percent open market log purchases to be from certified sources. This additional source of local DNR certified wood will help us with providing environmentally friendly, certified products for our customers and the green marketplace.”

DNR is also enabling broader access to their FSC timber by changing the way some timbers sales are executed. Particularly in stands with a diversity of species and grades, the agency is conducting contract sales, where specific log sorts are sold individually. This allows smaller manufacturers more competative access to state timber than conventional stumpage sales and generally brings more revenue to state trusts.

DNR hopes to also certify the 180,000 acre Olympic Experimental State Forest on the western Peninsula within roughly 12-18 months.

For more information on purchasing from DNR, contact Marketing Supervisor David Bergvall at 360-902-2911 or by email.