Old Growth, New Hope

By Francine Stephens

"The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness."
-- John Muir

Photo © Yana Valachovic

From John Muir to Frederick Law Olmstead to Gary Snyder ^* , the forests of California have been a source of inspiration throughout history. Anyone who has walked through towering old growth forests and peered up at a 2,000-year-old redwood understands the importance of safeguarding humanity's balance with nature. However, ensuring the existence of old growth, particularly on the west coast of the United States, has engendered bitter battles among timber industry representatives, environmental activists, and community members, who are often at odds with each other over what sustainable forest management means.

With the creation of the Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood certification program in 1989, there are now credible and accepted standards for environmentally and socially responsible timber production that have helped put an end to such divisions. The program's recent certification of the Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC), responsible for the management of 232,000 acres of timberland in Mendocino and Sonoma counties, will aid in conserving redwood forests in northern California.

MRC was certified by SmartWood as well as by the Scientific Certification Systems of Oakland, California, both of whom are accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization that promotes responsible forestry. Additionally, Mendocino Forest Products (MFP), an associated but separate company, has three sawmills that were evaluated and certified by SmartWood in the spring of 2000, ensuring that certified wood is being tracked throughout the production process.

According to Chris Maser, an ecologist who took part in SmartWood's assessment of MRC's land management practices, it was the history of the land in question that made this particular certification unique. The land was previously owned by Louisiana Pacific, which practiced high grading (cutting of all trees of value) as well as clearcutting in older forest stands of redwood and Douglas fir. This allowed tanoak, typically not a dominant tree, to take over. However, tanoak sprouts from the stump, so more trees are created when it is cut. Through its practice of clearcutting, Louisiana Pacific created the dominance of tanaok, and then, in an attempt to combat the problem, made matters worse through its excessive use of herbicides. "This generated a legacy of bitterness between Louisiana Pacific and local environmental groups. When MRC bought the land, they purchased that legacy; there was a staunch distrust of MRC from the outset," says Maser.

Yet MRC is working hard to change this legacy. They are currently experimenting with producing flooring out of tanoak, considered a weed by many. MRC recently shipped its first supply of tanoak flooring to the Forest Stewardship Council, which is renovating its office in Arcata, California. "MRC should be commended for taking the risk to produce a product with a tree that is currently disdained. If they succeed, tanoak will become a commercially important product," Maser stated.

If MRC were not utilizing the tanoak, the local sawmill would have been closed. "The community has directly benefited from the production of the tanoak flooring," says SmartWood's Western Regional Manager Walter Smith, a logging specialist who also lives in the California community in question.

Perhaps the most important aspect of MRC's involvement with certification is that they are engaged in a process of restoring the forest back to a healthy, functioning ecosystem, a process which may take years to complete. "It will be exciting to monitor the changes and be an influential part of their progress," Smith said.

Involved in certification for four years, Maser has "never in [his] life seen a company work so hard in good faith to do what needs to be done -- and in an ecologically sound manner. If anyone has earned certification, MRC has."

The Home Depot is the primary vendor of certified forest products made at the MFP mills. SmartWood certification also includes items such as furniture, musical instruments, and picture and window frames. For a full listing of where to buy SmartWood-certified products, ensuring that all of our world's forests remain a source of inspiration well into the future, please visit SmartWood's Web site at www.smartwood.org.
(2/2001)