Support Greening America with Products from Family Forests
Forest products, harvested from America’s family forests, are more environmentally friendly than other building material with regard to energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and pollution.
Policy makers at the federal, state, and local levels are enacting incentives and regulations calling for green buildings and procurement of green products in an effort to reduce environmental impacts and energy consumption.
America’s family forests, the largest forest ownership group in the U.S., supply the bulk of the nation’s green, renewable forest products. Family forest owners loose income opportunities if they are cut out of these markets, making it harder for them to stay on the land and continue to provide society with environmental amenities like clean water and air, wildlife habitat, and place to recreate.
About American Tree Farm System® (ATFS):
ATFS is the oldest and largest US forest certification system.
24 million acres, owned by over 90,000 family forest owners, are certified under ATFS.
Family forest owners certified under ATFS follow 9 standards of sustainability.
ATFS is internationally approved by the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification
Wood harvested from ATFS certified lands flows into the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® chain of custody system |
The building sector, one of the largest users of forest products, is greening its industry with green building rating systems. The two most prominent systems are the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design system (LEED) and the US Green Globes system, administered in the U.S. by the Green Building Initiative.
Unfortunately, the LEED rating system does not recognize the valuable role that wood products made from forests certified under ALL credible forest certification systems can play in reducing the environmental impact and energy consumption of our built environment. Wood products harvested from forests certified under the American Tree Farm System® (ATFS) do not receive credit under this system. Instead, LEED gives credit only to wood products harvested under the Forest Stewardship Council’s system. LEED also generally discriminates against wood, favoring steel, plastic, and other building materials over wood.
US Green Globes appropriately credits the use of wood products harvested from ATFS certified forests.
To support the greening of America with products from family forests, policy makers should:
- Support green procurement and green building policies, including green schools initiatives, that encourage the use of wood products from ATFS-certified family forests.
- Oppose green building policies that only allow use of the LEED rating system.
Senate Testimony on Federal Green Building Policy AFF Weighs in on USGBC's Green Building Standards The American Forest Foundation is a nonprofit conservation organization that strives to ensure the continuation of America’s family forests. Each year we train 30,000 educators and help 90,000 landowners to manage forests for wildlife, habitat, recreation and sustainable products.
Policy approved by American Forest Foundation Board, to expire December 31, 2009
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