By K.J. Quinn
The devastating impact of illegal logging on the ecosystems of certain foreign countries is well documented. But following extensive lobbying by a coalition of environmental, industry and labor groups, Congress is close to implementing a groundbreaking law banning commerce in illegally sourced plants and their products—including timber and wood products.

“This will help the federal government track the amount of wood coming in, by country, species and quantity,” said Ed Korczak, executive director, National Wood Flooring Association ( NWFA). “It will reduce the amount of illegal lumber coming in to the U.S.”

Beginning Dec. 15, importers will be required to provide a basic declaration to accompany every shipment of plants or plant products. This addresses illegal logging by requiring the scientific name of any species used, country of harvest, quantity and measure, and value. If either the specific country or species are unknown for a given shipment, the law allows declarations to contain the name of each likely species of plant, and/or each possible country of origin.

This stipulation is part of an amendment to the 100-year-old Lacey Act. The proposal, put forth in Congress last year by lawmakers Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), acknowledges and supports other countries’ efforts to govern their own natural resources and puts in place powerful incentives for companies trading in these commodities to do the same.

“ Anderson Hardwood Floors strongly supports the new Lacey Act and worked hard to help get it passed,” said Don Finkell, president and CEO. “We are working with all our suppliers to make sure we comply by the Dec. 15 deadline.”

The new law, ratified by Congress in May, addresses illegal logging in three areas:

1. It prohibits all trade in plant and plant products illegally sourced from any state or foreign country.

2. It requires importers to declare the origin of harvest and species name of all plants contained in their products.

3. It establishes penalties for violation of the Act—up to $250,000, five years jail time, and forfeiture of goods for any corporation or individual.

The act, however, does not impose U.S. law on sovereign nations. “Illegally sourced” is defined by the content of sovereign nations’ own laws. “Each country gets to make their own rules on what’s legal on their land,” NWFA’s Korczak explained. “That’s a distinction a lot of people miss.”

While the Lacey Act has long been one of the most powerful tools for the U.S. agencies fighting wildlife crime, some experts say the absence of “plants” from the statute was a glaring omission. Illegal and unsustainable logging is a huge problem worldwide, particularly in tropical countries with little or no government regulations. The flooring trade is particularly susceptible as large volumes of illegal timber reportedly go into hardwood flooring.

‘Certified’ forests

A case in point is merbau, one of the most popular wood flooring species. The hardwood is only commercially available in Indonesia’s Papua Province and neighboring country of Papua New Guinea. According to published reports, both regions have been ruthlessly targeted by illegal loggers to supply demand from booming western flooring markets.

There is a way, however, for environmentally conscious consumers and forest product companies to be assured the wood they buy comes from certified forests. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an independent non-profit organization, manages the Chain-of-Custody (CoC) certification program. FSC-certified material is tracked through the production process, from forest to consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution.

“FSC is the gold standard for sustainable wood management,” Anderson’s Finkell said. “FSC timberland certification is very difficult to achieve in the U.S. because most forest land is privately held in small parcel sizes, less than 50 acres. This makes it hard for a land owner to justify the administrative cost of getting FSC certification.”

The certification program, which enjoys the support of environmental groups worldwide, is available for any operation that processes cut wood. Only FSC CoC certified operations are allowed to label products with the FSC trademarks. Furthermore, CoC certification can be used to demonstrate compliance with public or private procurement policies and specifications, such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED rating system.

USGBC only recognizes FSC certification as evidence of the sustainability of a wood product, although that could change following the recent announcement for comment on a proposal that would allow other certification systems seeking to be recognized by the Council have their programs reviewed and approved.

Still, the fact that a wood product is “certified” does not mean it comes from an ecologically well managed forest. Several wood flooring companies with FSC CoC certification that have earned the right to buy and sell FSC-certified wood do not sell much FSC-certified wood at all, observers say. It’s a case of supply and demand, as less than 1% of U.S. forest lands are FSC certified, according to industry estimates. “This means only a similar amount of domestically produced wood products can be FSC certified,” Anderson’s Finkell pointed out. Indeed, there are less than a dozen FSC-certified domestic wood flooring manufacturers.

“I think retailers can feel confident about any U.S.-sourced wood product or specie,” Finkell said. “Tropical species are more suspect, and I would want a recognized certification program like FSC to feel good about them, from an environmental standpoint.”