As mentioned at the end of yesterday’s post on Carleton Hart Architects and the Tualatin Valley Water District, today’s subject deals with another facet of Oregon’s Natural Step movement. Timber, at the heart of America’s expansion in the 19th century, represents a major opportunity in sustainable development. Although wood is a renewable resource, it has not been harvested sustainably throughout American history. Those companies that understand the value American forests will set the example for a more sustainable future.
Marc Gaudin, owner of the Joinery, worked as a forester for 10 years and developed a sense of appreciation for woodlands he helped steward. When he began his furniture company, he decided to harvest wood from sustainably managed forests. In addition, he decided to build all of his pieces by hand. Mr. Gaudin obtains some of his cherry and maple wood from a sustainably harvested forest. People like Truman Collins, founder of the Collins Company, began working to ensure the health of American forests more than 100 years ago. To develop sustainably, his employees were imbued with a sense that their jobs were secure as long as the health of the forest was at its optimum.
Today, the Collins Company (based in Portland, Oregon) has three sustainably managed forests, one in Pennsylvania (the original hardwood forest), one in Lakeview, Oregon, and a third in Chester, California. They have engaged in restoration of the Lakeview forest in order to ensure the future health of the woodlands. They see the topsoil as the richest resource and allow nature to replenish itself. They are using the concept of biomimicry, which ensures the forest produces the natural cycles that allow for replenishing topsoil, to maintain biodiversity, and to reproduce future generations of old growth. The Collins Company has also taken to improving particleboard by reducing toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde. They have also instituted energy saving measures, which has positively impacted the bottom line. One of the efficiency measured they instituted (pumping sawdust back into the manufacturing of particleboard) has saved the company an estimated $500,000 (US) annually.
Both the economic and environmental steps taken by companies such as Collins Co., ensure their long term viability. The steps taken to ensure the long term viability of a company make both economic and environmental sense. This type of thinking can position companies to thrive in the coming decades. Taking a triple bottom line view of business, as the Collins Company has done from its very founding, will help to solidify future success. In the case of the Collins Company, the workers played an integral role in the continued health of the forest and the company.
[image source: ConservationNext.com]
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