Seattle Audubon, Washington Environmental Council and Northwest Natural Resource Group are working with the Environmental Home Center and Dunn Lumber to promote Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood products.

As a consumer, you have a role to play. We are asking the public to choose FSC-certified wood to support good forestry.

What is FSC?

FSC certification, like an organic label for food, assures consumers that wood products stamped with the FSC label come from a well-managed forest. FSC-certified wood products protect important wildlife habitat and clean water in our forests by ensuring that logging is done in an environmentally sustainable way. To become FSC-certified, forest landowners must also show that they are meeting standards of economic and social sustainability, including addressing the needs of local communities, tribes, and workers.

Please help us track the success of this campaign by asking for an FSC-certified pencil when you are shopping for FSC-certified wood at these stores.

Where Can I Find FSC?

Background

Historically, FSC-certified wood has been difficult to find in stores. Retailers had a difficult time finding it and keeping it in stock, so when the public or building contractors went to find it, they were often frustrated. With more Northwest landowners becoming FSC-certified - like Fort Lewis, Potlatch and the Warm Springs Tribe in Oregon - supply is becoming more readily available.

In exchange for our partner retailers committing to keep a variety of FSC products in stock, we are asking our members to go to these stores and choose FSC-certified products for your wood needs. Seattle Audubon supports FSC products because of the critical link between the health of our region's forests, the way they are logged, and the products you buy.

Our goal is to use this pilot project to help make the FSC-certified wood market more successful. Increasing demand for FSC-certified wood will make FSC certification more appealing to Washington's forest landowners such as the state Department of Natural Resources (which manages over 2 million acres of state forests) and private landowners.