Forest Map Persuades Timber Firms World Wildlife Fund Overview Seeks Use Of ‘Eco Friendly’ Wood

An environmental conservation group released its North American Forest Map on Wednesday, along with a study detailing plans to preserve unprotected U.S. and Canadian forests.

At the opening of its Forests for Life Conference, members of the World Wildlife Fund said they hoped to convince the timber industry to take advantage of the growing environmentally friendly wood product market.

The organization, founded in 1961, touted forest certification as a valuable tool to educate product manufacturers and consumers about the benefits of using “eco friendly” wood rather than timber logged from unprotected forests.

Certification is overseen by the Forest Stewardship Council, a thirdparty organization designed to accredit the authenticity of lumber company claims that their wood is not endangered wood.

“What we have here is a win-win solution for biodiversity,” said Dominick DellaSala, director of forest ecology for the World Wildlife Fund. “It truly is thinking globally and acting locally.”

DellaSala said the fund’s assessment of the North American forests is important because it analyzes their importance in a global context. But he lamented the newly defined forests as “a globally outstanding foresttype that is in trouble.”

The group’s study states that 95 percent of forest eco-regions in the U.S. and Canada are unprotected. It also found that more than half of the world’s temperate rain forest occurs along a narrow band spanning southern Oregon to British Columbia and Alaska.

The map released Wednesday showed the United States has 12 certified forests, while Canada has none.

The desire to keep forests viable and sustainable into the future has created a boon for companies which demand eco-friendly standards of their suppliers.

“This is something that needs to be done,” said Larry Spinks, owner of The Loft Bed Store. Spinks’ Virginiabased furniture company saw the inclusion of certified eco-friendly wood into their product line as a way to attract upscale buyers in his area.