Environment Attribute Overview

Sustainable Forestry — FSC^® 100%

All of the wood in this product comes from forests that are certified well-managed according to the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council^® (FSC^®). Qualifies as FSC^® 100% & USGB LEED MR7.

All of the contents of wood flooring products that bear a 100% FSC^® label come from forests certified as being in compliance with the environmental and social standards of the Forest Stewardship Council^®.

More information on forest certification and the FSC^®:

Today, a growing number of timber producers and traders are making environmental claims. Some are accurate, but others are misleading or exaggerated. How can you distinguish a genuine ecological forest product from one that has been "greenwashed"? The answer is credible, independent certification for forestry and forest products.

Forest certification is a voluntary process that ensures consumers that the wood products they buy were grown and harvested in a way that protects forests for the long term. Certifiers assess the on-the-ground forest practices of a given operation against a stringent set of environmental and social criteria. Operations that meet those standards may identify their products as originating from a well-managed source. The certifier also tracks the "chain of custody" of the certified wood to ensure that it is kept separate from non-certified material at each stage of processing and distribution from forest to end user.

The Forest Stewardship Council^® is a not-for-profit organization that accredits certifiers whose programs conform to its internationally recognized Principles and Criteria, thereby providing a consistent and credible framework for independent certification efforts worldwide. The major FSC^®-accredited certifying agencies in North America are SmartWood and Scientific Certification Systems.

FSC^® certification enjoys the support of most major environmental groups, including World Wildlife Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Rainforest Alliance, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, and World Resources Institute.

In order to be certified, a company must:

• Have legally established rights to harvest
• Respect indigenous rights
• Maintain community well-being
• Conserve economic resources
• Protect biological diversity
• Have a written management plan
• Engage in regular monitoring
• Maintain high conservation value forests
• Manage plantations to alleviate pressures on natural forests

The success of FSC^® certification has spawned competing initiatives, most of which were created and are backed by forest products industry trade groups that view FSC^® certification as a threat to their business interests. For instance, the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) created the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) to certify the forest lands of all of its member companies (including the major US-based forest products companies such as Weyerhaeuser, International Paper, Louisiana Pacific, and Georgia Pacific) to a standard that is widely criticized as offering inadequate environmental protections and providing a green stamp to industrial forest practices like large-scale clear cuts (often at the expense of natural forest) and chemically-intensive monoculture tree-farming. For these reasons, the LEED rating system of the US Green Building council only offers credit for FSC^®-certified wood products, and many major environmental groups support the FSC^® while actively opposing the SFI and similar industry-based initiatives.

Products bearing the FSC^® Mix logo qualify for LEED credit Mrc7. To achieve MRc7, the LEED professional must use a minimum of 50% of wood-based materials and products, which are certified in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council^®'s (FSC^®) Principles and Criteria, for wood building components. These components include, but are not limited to, structural framing and general dimensional framing, flooring, sub-flooring, wood doors, and finishes.

Thus, if project contractors purchase $10,000 worth of a wood flooring product that is FSC^®-certified, and the total value of wood building components is $100,000, then project managers will need to source another $40,000 of FSC^®-certified wood products to achieve MRc7.

For more information on this and other FSC^® labels, visit: the FSC^® website.

Sustainable Forestry — FSC^® Mix

This product is certified according to the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council^® (FSC^®) for “Mix Sources.” At least 75% of the wood in this product comes from well-managed forests; the remaining content comes from “controlled” sources—i.e. legal, non-endangered, and non-old growth sources.

Products with a FSC^® Mix label are made from a mix of FSC^® certified and non-certified (but controlled) sources. Under the Mix program, wood comes from FSC^® certified well-managed forests, controlled sources and/or recycled, reclaimed, or salvaged material.

Company-controlled sources are controlled, in accordance with FSC^® standards, to exclude illegally harvested timber, forests where high conservation values are threatened, wood from genetically modified organisms (GMO), wood whose harvesting violates people's civil and traditional rights, and wood from forests harvested for the purpose of converting the land to non-native plantations or other non-forest use.

FSC^® certification enjoys the support of most major environmental groups, including World Wildlife Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Rainforest Alliance, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, and World Resources Institute.

In order to be certified, a company must:

• Have legally established rights to harvest
• Respect indigenous rights
• Maintain community well-being
• Conserve economic resources
• Protect biological diversity
• Have a written management plan
• Engage in regular monitoring
• Maintain high conservation value forests
• Manage plantations to alleviate pressures on natural forests

The success of FSC^® certification has spawned competing initiatives, most of which were created and are backed by forest products industry trade groups that view FSC^® certification as a threat to their business interests. For instance, the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) created the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) to certify the forest lands of all of its member companies (including the major US-based forest products companies such as Weyerhaeuser, International Paper, Louisiana Pacific, and Georgia Pacific) to a standard that is widely criticized as offering inadequate environmental protections and providing a green stamp to industrial forest practices like large-scale clear cuts (often at the expense of natural forest) and chemically-intensive monoculture tree-farming. For these reasons, the LEED rating system of the US Green Building council only offers credit for FSC^®-certified wood products, and many major environmental groups support the FSC^® while actively opposing the SFI and similar industry-based initiatives.

Products bearing the FSC^® Mix logo qualify for LEED credit Mrc7. To achieve MRc7, the LEED professional must use a minimum of 50% of wood-based materials and products, which are certified in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council^®'s (FSC^®) Principles and Criteria, for wood building components. These components include, but are not limited to, structural framing and general dimensional framing, flooring, sub-flooring, wood doors, and finishes.

Thus, if project contractors purchase $10,000 worth of a wood flooring product that is FSC^®-certified, and the total value of wood building components is $100,000, then project managers will need to source another $40,000 of FSC^®-certified wood products to achieve MRc7.

For more information on this and other FSC^® labels, visit: the FSC^® website.

Sustainable Forestry — Plantation

Plantation-grown on afforested lands and not GMO.

Like any other agricultural staple, many tree species can be efficiently produced as a crop in monocultures or near-monocultures. Unlike most agriculture crops such as corn or wheat, however, tree plantations are quite often subject to controversy and stereotyping, both negative and positive.

Forest activists and environmentalists tend to be deeply critical of the common industry practice of clear cutting and replanting, arguing that it is environmentally destructive to replace an ecologically and biologically diverse natural forest with a single, fast-growing commercial tree species. Industry players are likely to emphasize the efficiency of tree farming, arguing that it is the most cost-effective way to produce wood fiber for the benefit of society.

As might be expected, both positions have inherent merit, and both tend to trivialize the other side of the issue. The truth is that tree farming is not inherently good or bad; everything depends on the specifics of how a given tree plantation is established and managed over time, and the larger context in which tree farming takes place. Tree plantations can divert pressure from natural forest, or they can displace natural forest. One can imagine a worst-case scenario in which a natural, diverse, old-growth forest is clear cut and replaced with a monoculture of non-native, genetically-modified (GMO) trees that are then sustained with extensive artificial fertilizers, pesticides, and insecticides, driving down soil fertility and poisoning local waterways. Alternatively, one could paint a best-case scenario in which an appropriate mix of native tree species is established plantation-style on land that had previously been cleared for other uses (this is called afforestation) and natural techniques are used to build up soil fertility and control pests.

Of course, most tree farms are likely to fall somewhere between these extremes. What is the minimum standard of social and environmental responsibility for such plantations? Credible forest certification systems set standards for well-managed plantations as well as well-managed natural forests.

EcoTimber’s policy on sourcing wood from plantations (and on utilizing our Eco icon and the Plantation icon) is that we will not buy from plantations that were established at the expense of natural forest in the last 25 years, nor will we utilize GMO wood. Also, unless the plantation is already FSC^® certified, we will have visited the plantation we are sourcing from and determined that it is reasonably well-managed before stamping those products with this "Econ".

Rapidly Renewable

Salvaged standing or fallen trees killed by disease, fire, or wind.

15 years or less regrowth rate with average years to regrow listed. Qualifies as USGB LEED MR6.

Our definition of "rapidly renewable" is a plant that grows (or, in the case of cork, bark that regrows) to harvestable size in fifteen years or less. There are a large number of plants and even some trees (e.g. plantation teak), that meet this definition, but by far and away the most significant fiber resource when it comes to flooring is bamboo.

Products bearing the rapidly renewable icon qualify for LEED credit MRc6.

Non-Wood

Not from trees. Examples of “alternative to fiber to wood” options includes bamboo, palm, and cork.

This icon identifies flooring products made from plant materials that are wood-like but are not wood per se. These include bamboo, cork, and palm.

The bamboo culm that provides the raw material for our bamboo flooring is not a tree; botanically, it is actually in the grass family.

This “Econ” identifies flooring products made from plant materials that are wood-like but are not wood per se. These include bamboo, cork, and palm.

Cork qualifies for EcoTimber's Eco icon with a non-wood icon and a rapidly renewable (9 year) icon.

Palm flooring is made from palm trees, which is not technically wood either. Palms are in a different botanical family from other trees, and are made up of a fibrous material that resembles wood but is not. Our palm flooring comes from coconut palm plantations which are abundant around the world. Palms produce nuts for up to 80 years, then as the palms age and become non-producing, they are removed and replanted with young palms, offering a large, ongoing supply of raw material.

Palm qualifies for EcoTimber's non-wood Econ, a plantation Econ and a reclaimed post agricultural Econ.