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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Boise Cascade the "Dinosaur" of the Timber Industry

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives & Portal

10/29/00

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

A coalition of environmental groups are putting renewed focus on

Boise Cascade, calling it the "dinosaur" of the logging industry due

to continued predatory logging practices and its role in global old-

growth destruction. The company's operations in the U.S., Canada,

Brazil and Chile are being targeted; as well as its old growth sales

from endangered forests in the Amazon Basin, Southeast Asia, Russia,

and elsewhere. Boise Cascade and other large timber companies are

out of touch with trends in the industry - notably the fact that old-

growth forest products are not acceptable in the marketplace, and the

requirement that the ecological sustainability of their timber

harvests must be demonstrated with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

certification. In their defense, Boise Cascade relies upon flimsy

industry sponsored "certification" of their timber harvesting

practices. The proliferation of sham forest management certification

programs, that are dramatically less rigorous than the FSC standards,

puts at risk any supposed environmental benefits of certified

forestry.

When all timber is "certified", it gives a green light to diminish

all remaining old-growth. It must be made clear that certification

is not in itself sufficient to allow any particular area of remaining

old-growth to be logged. Given its scarcity and ecological worth, by

default all of the World's remaining old-growth should be strictly

protected and preserved. The only basis for logging old-growth

should be to meet basic human needs of local peoples, in which case

local communities practicing certified management would be

acceptable. Certified forestry should only be practiced in

regenerating secondary growth and mixed plantations to meet the

World's forest product needs. Unless this distinction is made,

certification is the death warrant for all remaining old-growth

forests. Environmentalists must insist that commercial old-growth

logging is indeed a dinosaur, and as such, is a thing of the past.

g.b.

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ITEM #1

Title: Press Release: 12 Story Boise Cascade Dinosaur Flies

Source: Rainforest Action Network and National Forest Protection

Alliance

Date: October 24, 2000

Contacts:

Michael Brune 208-941-6165

Jennifer Krill 208-941-6164, 415-398-4404

TWELVE-STORY BOISE CASCADE DINOSAUR FLIES OVER DOWNTOWN BOISE

COMPANY DINOSAUR REVEALS UGLY TRUTH:

"I c LOGGING OLD GROWTH!"

Boise, ID-Relentless forest activists floated a giant Boise Cascade

T-Rex balloon over downtown this morning, donning a massive sign on

its chest that announced: "I ? OLD GROWTH LOGGING!" The 120-foot

inflatable balloon at 13th and Front Streets towered over Boise

Cascade's headquarters and circled the heart of downtown Boise

beginning at 8:30 AM.

"Boise Cascade is the dinosaur of the logging industry." explained

Michael Brune, Old Growth Campaign Director for Rainforest Action

Network. "However, the age of predatory logging is over. If Boise

Cascade does not adapt to the emerging values in the new economy, it

will not be able to survive in the modern marketplace."

The past few years have seen a wave of heavy wood users, home

builders and home improvement retailers commit to eliminating the use

of old growth wood and give preference to alternatives. Nearly

twenty-five percent of the U.S. lumber market has pledged to

transform its use of wood and paper products. Many of these

companies, including Home Depot, Wickes Lumber, and Centex Homes, are

some of Boise Cascade's largest customers.

"While the American public demands an end to logging on national

forests and protecting our roadless areas and old growth forests,

Boise Cascade continues to flaunt the fact that it is the largest

purchaser of federal timber in the U.S.," stated Jake Kreilick,

Campaign Coordinator for the National Forest Protection Alliance. He

added, "To add insult to injury, Boise Cascade is giving the U.S. a

bad name abroad with its devastating logging operations in British

Columbia, Mexico and Chile."

The coalition of environmental groups have a renewed focus on Boise

Cascade, targeting the company's operations in the U.S., Canada,

Brazil, Chile, as well as its old growth sales from endangered

forests in the Amazon Basin, Southeast Asia, Russia, and elsewhere.

More than three quarters of the world's old growth forests have

already been logged and degraded, much within the past three decades.

In the United States, less than five percent of our original forests

remain.

Rainforest Action Network works to protect the world's rainforests

and the rights of their traditional inhabitants through education,

grassroots organizing and non-violent direct action.

National Forest Protection Alliance calls for the immediate end to

corporate and commercial exploitation of public lands, and in

particular, an end to all commercial logging on federal public lands.

ITEM #2

Title: Boise Cascade gets king-size protest, Group says company

doesn't protect forests

Source: The Idaho Statesman, Copyright 2000

Date: October 25, 2000

By: Rocky Barker

See dinosaur photos online:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/daily/20001025/LocalNews/47709.sht

ml

Auditors say Boise Cascade Corp. is a good steward of the forests

where it cuts its trees.

But environmentalists disagree. Tuesday they displayed their views by

floating a giant dinosaur balloon over Boise and trying to hang a

banner on the company's headquarters.

Three people were arrested and charged with trespassing.

Boise Cascade announced that PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an

independent auditing firm, certified that the wood products company

complied with an industry sustainable-forestry program. It also

certified Boise Cascade complied with its own Forest Stewardship

Values and Measures program.

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative is sponsored by the American

Forest & Paper Association. It is one of a growing number of wood

certification programs designed to meet growing consumer demand for

environmentally-friendly products.

"We started our certification program this year to demonstrate to our

customers that we're doing an excellent job in our stewardship

program and that we're managing our forests for future generations,"

said Michael Moser, a Boise Cascade spokesman.

Environmentalists say the certification program allows Boise Cascade

to continue harvesting old-growth timber.

"Boise Cascade is the dinosaur of the logging industry," said Michael

Brune, old-growth campaign director for the Rainforest Action

Network. "If Boise Cascade does not adapt to the emerging values in

the new economy, it will not be able to survive in the modern

marketplace."

Boise Cascade security guards detained three people who were

preparing to rappel down its headquarters. The guards turned them

over to Boise police, who arrested them on charges of trespassing.

The three arrested were Benjamin Frye, Dawn Pridgen, and Mark

Stephan, all of Boise.

Companies such as Home Depot and Lowes Home Improvement are phasing

out the purchase of old-growth timber in response to consumer demand,

said Lisa Leff, vice president of portfolio management for Trillium

Asset Management, a socially-responsible investment firm based in

Boston.

"If we're looking at a stock like Boise Cascade in an industry so

cyclical and so sensitive on the demand side, we need to see that

responsiveness to changes in consumer demand," she said.

The industry certification program that Boise Cascade meets doesn't

go far enough, she said.

Boise Cascade has no old-growth timber on its own lands, Moser said.

It does cut old-growth timber from state and federal lands.

"When you purchase timber off of state or federal land, you cut

according to their plan," he said.

The auditors praised Boise Cascade for landscape-level planning,

meeting scenic objectives, good communication with contractors and

logger training. They recommended improvements in company efforts to

reduce impacts on streams from livestock and to minimize the loss of

soil productivity during forest site preparation.

Contact Rocky at 377-6484 or rbarker@boise.gannett.com

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