By Ed Korczak
It isn’t every day that environmental groups embrace programs established by big industries, especially when that industry historically has been perceived as anti-environment, but the wood products industry has recently broken through this barrier.

Under the provisions of its Responsible Procurement Program (RPP), the National Wood Flooring Association ( NWFA) has formed the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Procurement Group by joining forces with several prominent environmental groups including the World Wildlife Fund, Domtar, FSC Family Forest Alliance, Rainforest Alliance, Scientific Certification Systems and the Nature Conservancy.

The mission of the FSC Procurement Group is to combine forces between industry and environmental groups to explore, review and develop systems for private landowners to adopt FSC certification.

FSC certification offers the highest assurance of environmental and social performance in the forest products industry. Demand for FSC- Certified wood has increased dramatically during the past few years based on an increase in consumer desire for environmentally responsible building products.

In the United States, approximately 270 million acres of working forest are owned by small woodland owners, but only 2.5 million acres are certified to FSC standards. The FSC Procurement Group will work to remove the barriers to achieving FSC certification, and increase the amount of FSC wood available in the U.S.

The FSC Procurement Group was formed as part of NWFA’s RPP, which recognizes wood flooring companies that work to sustain our world’s forest. The program is supported by the Forest Stewardship Council-US and the FSC Family Forest Alliance, which recognize RPP as a valid, incremental approach toward socially and environmentally responsible forestry.

The goal of NWFA’s RPP is to harness the power of the U.S. wood flooring industry to promote environmentally and socially responsible forest management in the regions that supply the timber on which our industry depends.

Responsible forest management is important for a number of reasons. Obviously, it is good for the environment, but from a manufacturing perspective, it helps to preserve the raw materials that our industry depends on to survive. What is truly remarkable about the RPP initiative, however, is that the environmental community has embraced the program. Not only do they endorse it, but they also helped to develop it, govern it and promote it.

RPP’s three tiers
The program is transitional to higher levels of environmental responsibility based on three tiers of increasing voluntary participation and associated certification.

Tier One is the entry-level stage. It recognizes companies that source their wood from states identified in U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service studies, which conclude that forests in the 33 states from which hardwood is harvested are growing faster than the timber harvested or lost through mortality.

RPP recognizes these U.S. hardwood forests as renewing and allows Tier One companies to use the “NWFA from U.S. Renewing Forests” seal for off-product marketing. For imported products, a “Legal Imported” seal is available for companies that practice due diligence, as required by the U.S. Lacey Act, when importing products from other countries.

Tier Two is the transitional stage. Companies participating at this tier must achieve FSC chain-of-custody certification and meet all FSC standards for the products they source, including FSC-certified wood, FSC-controlled wood and non-FSC-certified wood.

In addition, they must pledge to increase their overall use of FSC-certified wood during the next two years.

Tier three is the highest stage of RPP and encompasses the highest level of environmental responsibility. It recognizes those companies that source more than 50% of their wood from FSC-certified forests, and whose non-FSC sourced materials meet FSC controlled wood guidelines.

To date, four companies have concluded their RPP third-party audit and have become certified under the Responsible Procurement Program. They include Anderson Hardwood Floors, Mannington Hardwood Floors, Mullican Flooring and Sheoga Harwood Flooring.

Each of these companies has undergone unbiased, third-party audits to verify the wood they sell is harvested from renewing U.S. forests where growth exceeds both harvest and natural mortality. In addition, each also is verified independently to source some of its wood from FSC certified forests and to follow FSC standards for its wood flooring products.

Other wood flooring companies currently undergoing the independent audit process include Augusta Lumber, Cikel America, Johnson Premium Hardwood Flooring and Smith Flooring. Combined, these companies represent nearly 40% of the U.S. domestic market.

To oversee the RPP program, and to maintain its integrity, NWFA formed an RPP Governance Board, which is tasked with expanding the program into other sectors of the lumber industry, including furniture, construction, cabinetry, paper and other wood products.

Members of the RPP Governance Board include the NWFA, FSC-US, Rainforest Alliance, Scientific Certification Systems, the Tropical Forest Trust and the World Wildlife Fund.

Never before in our world’s history has the desire for green products been so high, especially when it comes to building products. Consumers want it, designers embrace it, builders utilize it and the environmental community demands it. The bottom line is that environmental consciousness is no longer a passing fad; it has become a social norm and, consequently, the standard in the building and construction industry.

The number of prominent environmental groups participating in NWFA’s RPP is an indication of the program’s validity as a significant contribution to environmental preservation. NWFA will continue to work with these and other environmental groups to develop ways to expand and improve the program.

For more information about NWFA’s Responsible Procurement Program, call the association at 800.422.4556 (USA and Canada) or 636.519.9663 (local and international), or visit rpprogram.org.

Ed Korczak is executive director and CEO of the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA)