June 22, 2010

Missoula County Commissioners,
I am disappointed that through your decision to embrace the LEED standard you have closed the door on all forest products grown and produced in Montana. The private forest stewardship programs in Montana work together to ensure healthy, sustainable and well managed private non-industrial family forests which provide a variety of public and private benefits, not the least of which are affordable, renewable and environmentally friendly building materials.
The American Tree Farm Program, the Montana Forest Stewardship Program, The Montana Extension Forestry system, the U of M School of Forestry, NRSC (Natural Resource Conservation Service) and DNRC (Dept. of Natural Resources) forestry programs, Montana Wood Products Association and the Montana Forest Council all work hard to ensure long term sustainable forest management practices, while the only “forest certification” system that is recognized by LEED, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is entirely absent from the state of Montana. Not only is there not one single acre enrolled in this program, but FCS does not participate in any of the great stewardship programs that do work in our state.
The American Tree Farm System has over 400 members and certifies land management activities on over 217,000 acres of private forest land. The Sustainable Initiative certifies land management activities on over one million acres of forestland. The Montana Forest Stewardship program has over 1,300 graduates representing 115,000 acres of private forestland with verified stewardship plans. Yet under LEED the wood products produced from Montana are “NOT GOOD ENOUGH’ to be considered.
Unfortunately, the LEED (Leadership Energy & Environmental Design) does not recognize the valuable role that wood products made from forests certified under all credible forest certification systems can play in reducing the environmental impact and energy consumption of our built environment. Wood products harvested under the American Tree Farm System (ATFS), Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), Program for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) or any other credible forest certification schemes do not receive credit under this system. Instead, LEED gives credit only to wood products harvested under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) system and generally discriminates against wood, favoring steel, plastic and other building materials over wood.
I hope you will reconsider your decision not to allow the use of certified Montana wood products in county green building programs. US Green Globes and other nationally and internationally recognized green building programs appropriately credit the use of wood products harvested from the American Tree Farm System and other certified forests. We suggest you review 2009 State Senate Bill 49 to see how other agencies have addressed the need to build more sustainable infrastructure without penalizing our own communities in the process.
Sincerely Yours,

Bill Wright, Chairman
Montana Tree Farm System
73893 Arlee Pines Drive
Arlee, MT 59821
(406) 726-3304
cc: Denny Rehberg
The Governor’s Office
MACO