Community Solutions, Inc. (CSI)
Wallowa Resources Forest Certification Services
Wallowa Resources has long been interested in value-adding opportunities for our forest resources. Our work demands we explore every opportunity, on behalf of the land stewards, for them to be appropriately rewarded for good stewardship. For Wallowa Resources, stewardship signifies our responsibility to manage and respond progressively to the factors affecting the sustainability of land and communities. For us, it is synonymous with husbandry, care and conservation.
Wallowa Resources has examined a number of prospects for forest owners and wood processers to add value to local products including certification and labeling of wood products as "FSC certified". To advance this opportunity Wallowa Resources has become a partner and North American representative for Soil Association Woodmark. Woodmark is accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council to conduct certification audits on forests and chain-of-custody audits for forest product businesses. WoodMark’s specialty in group certifying small, private forest owners was especially appealing to Wallowa Resources.
The certification process requires third party, independent auditors. Wallowa Resources Forest Certification Services is represented by Larry Nall who is a lead auditor certified by Woodmark. Larry leads audits and trains other local professionals to carry out certification audits. WR conducts this certification work through its for-profit Wallowa Resources Community Solutions, Inc. (WRCSI).
In addition to creating jobs for local foresters and ecologists, this business strategically positions Wallowa Resources to be active in the emerging ecosystem services marketplace. The interacting systems of land, plants, animals and atmosphere provide an array of services to society. These include carbon storage and climate regulation, water quality and quantity regulation, soil formation, fertility and stability, and biodiversity and ecosystem function. Various opportunities exist and are being planned that will provide payments to landowners who manage their land in ways that ensure these services. Certification is emerging as one method to ensure, measure and value these services.
Larry Nall is the owner / operator of a forest management consulting company (Camp II Forest Management) which has been operating throughout the Pacific Northwest for thirty-five years. Nall has benefited from his experience with industrial forests, non-industrial small woodland owners, publicly owned forests, and non-profit organizations.
From 1974-92, Nall’s company provided full-service forestry services contracting. Services provided included timber cruising and sale preparation, forest inventory and stand mapping, tree planting and seedling maintenance, pre-commercial thinning and post-harvest slash disposal. For certain properties, Nall also developed prescriptions and oversaw management within the stewardship format, in which compensation was dependent upon meeting management objectives. From 1993-2009, Nall’s work has focused on vegetative inventory/mapping, forest management consulting, cruising, GIS implementation, and consulting on FSC certification audits for Smartwood© and Woodmark© .
Larry Nall can be contacted at forestinfo@wallowaresources.org or 541.426.8053.
In the news:
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) reports that the area of U.S. and Canadian forests managed to its stringent environmental and social standards surpassed the 100 million-acre mark in June, representing 40% growth since January 2008. Read more...
Stay up to date on the Forest Stewardship Council by reading the FSC newsletter.
|
A growing segment of the population is seeking wood from sustainably managed forests. One certification system is accredited through the Forest Stewardship Council. The label is called FSC certified. Landowners can have their forests certified and processors can have their businesses certified.
|
