Mid-1990s

Beginning of Certified Wood Journey

In the mid-1990s we worked on a project for the Packard Foundation (founded by David Packard of HP). Hawley Peterson Snyder Architecture (Sunnyvale, California) wanted FSC certified wood in their project. We didn’t know anything about certified wood nor the Forest Stewardship Council. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) did not exist at the time. But encouraged by the Packard Foundation and the design team, we dove into well-managed forestry and Chain-of-Custody certification. We were intrigued. And after some hard work, we qualified for FSC Chain-of-Custody certification. We partnered with Collins Pine using FSC lumber harvested from their ‘well-managed’ timberlands in the Mt. Lassen area of Northern California. We built a beautiful FSC White Fir grille for the project’s ceiling.

1998

LEED Introduction & Further Commitment to Sustainability

A year later in 1998, the US Green Building Council launched the LEED green building rating system. Use of FSC lumber offered designers 1 credit on their project. This propelled our sustainable journey still further. In future years, we hired Louis Leatherman, a sustainability expert, to help guide our journey. Staff members become GA (Green Associated) accredited. We also began participating in the Living Building Challenge, which requires FSC-certified lumber. We enlisted many suppliers to the cause with FSC Outsource agreements. We were firmly committed to FSC Chain-of-Custody.

Early 2000s to 2015

Supply Issues and Fast>Track Program Growth

But a problem was developing. Unfortunately, our FSC softwood supply from Canada became increasingly unpredictable and in short supply. At the same time, 9Wood’s Fast>Track guaranteed on-time shipping program was growing in popularity. Fast>Track needs predictable, short lead-time certified Hemlock if we’re going to honor our guarantee. After all, with a 5% payout for each business day we ship late, we must have a rock-solid supply chain.

2016

Introduction of LEED Alternative Credit Path & Expansion to PEFC

Up until 2016, LEED recognized FSC certified wood as the sole certification organization worthy of the Material Resource (MR) credit. Then on April 5, 2016, the USGBC released a pilot Alternative Credit Path (ACP) for MR credits that included other certification organizations besides FSC. This remains somewhat controversial, particularly as one of the approved alternates, SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative), retains a “black hat” image in the environmental community.

Then our FSC softwood supply from Canada became truly unavailable, endangering our Fast>Track inventory as well as other projects. We felt compelled to expand our search for alternative certification programs. With encouragement from the new LEED alternative credit path, we settled on adding PEFC certified lumber as another option. As it turns out, PEFC is the largest certification program in the world, certifying large amounts of Canadian forests, particularly in British Columbia where its acreage vastly outnumbers FSC.

• PEFC certified British Columbia forests covers 196,000 square miles (50.6 million hectares)
• FSC certified British Columbia forests covers 5,400 square miles (1.4 million hectares)