Good News

This was great news from the American Forest Foundation in the form of an Email I received this weekend.


Dear Lamar,


There’s nothing better than starting the weekend off with good news, especially when it’s good news about an issue that we’ve all been working on for years.

Today, we received the news that wood products, including products from American Tree Farm System certified lands, will be given a fair shot by one of the largest builders in the federal government—the General Services Administration. After much education and outreach from the AFF network, our industry partners, governors, Members of Congress, and others, the GSA has decided to recognize both the Green Globes rating system and the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system (LEED) as viable green building rating systems for the federal government.

GSA has for a number of years recognized only LEED, which historically discourages the use of wood, especially wood from ATFS certified forests.  While this decision does not change our concerns with LEED, it means that GSA, and potentially other federal agencies who follow GSA’s lead, can now choose not to use LEED.

With this change, we now have an opportunity to get the federal government to use more wood in their buildings, and to use wood from ATFS certified forests.

Thank you for all your support over the years on this issue—it truly demonstrates what can happen when we all engage on critical issues.
Sincerely,

Tom Martin
President and CEO
American Forest Foundation