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Win-win situations for designer/makers are rare occurrences. To be able to support the concept of forest sustainability from an environmental and economic viewpoint is such a situation. Environmentally speaking, designer/makers need forests that are sustainably managed, and economically speaking, they need access to a wide range of soft/hardwood species and ecology friendly wood panels that only a diverse and well-managed forest base can provide.
To evaluate what constitutes "sustainable" timber, corporate, environment and government organizations have established competing standards of "certification". VCR supports the standards developed by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). These standards are the most rigorous and are developed with the participation of local communities.
In a report for the Ecoforestry Institute, Cam Brewer states, "Meaningful certification is about supporting a diversity of human and non-human uses of the forest, about providing a broad range of economic benefits, and about fostering strong human communities . . . Local manufacturers that create high-value wood products are able to reduce the pressure for unsustainable levels of timber extraction. By carefully valuing each log, by developing markets for under-utilized species, and by incorporating 'character' wood (with knots, bug stain, or other 'flaws'), higher value can be extracted from a lower volume of cut. This will help create employment, diversity, and stability in local communities, and break the dependency on single-product commodity mills."
Unfortunately, purchasing lumber with the FSC logo does not guarantee that the timber is suitable for manufacturing. FSC does not evaluate kilning quality, toxicity, moisture content levels, dimensional tolerance, etc. For example, a plywood/mdf panel produced with a toxic adhesive can still receive FSC approval. Designer/makers need to make their "quality" concerns heard so that environmental standards apply to all stages of the production cycle from log to finished product.
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