Eco-friendly logging goes against the grain

May 9, 1997
Web posted at: 10:40 p.m. EDT

From Correspondent Rusty Dornin

SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- The roaring sound of chainsaw ripping into tree trunk has traditionally sent shivers down the spines of most environmentalists. But in some quarters, that sentiment may be changing.

At a global conference this week, the World Wildlife Fund is promoting what it calls "eco-friendly" forestry. The philosophy is to manage forests with an eye both on preserving the environment and preserving the economies of logging communities.

"It's really the difference between a large-scale clear cut and an approach that takes a tree here and a tree there," says Jason Grant of Eco-Timber, a Berkeley, California, company that buys only wood certified as coming from forests managed in an eco-friendly fashion.

The new approach means that even wood from tropical rain forests -- once a big no-no -- can be politically correct.

"We're trying to tell the American public that it's OK to purchase wood from those sources, so long as they maintain these high standards," says Francis Grant-Suttie of the World Wildlife Fund.

Grant-Suttie says his company has found that eco-forestry, as a marketing concept for companies, seems to be catching on.

"You see companies, like Gap for example, that are very concerned about a positive environmental image in the marketplace and showing their customers, through practical steps like using certified wood in store construction, that they care about the environment," he says.

The idea has struck a chord with Gibson Guitar, which now makes sure all of the wood for its instruments comes from environmentally friendly forests.

But some timber interests say that below this eco-friendly veneer lies some economic realities.

"We ought to be seeing to it that our forests are being run right," says Hansen Moore of the American Wood Association. "That does cost money, and, eventually, everything made from wood and paper might well cost more because of that."

 

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