Olympic Valley, CA — Rick Holley, Chief Executive Officer of Plum Creek Timber Company, has won the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) President’s Award, for consistently showing leadership on behalf of working forests that support habitat and rural communities. Holley is known for his leadership on market transformation, sustainable communities and responsible forestry.
The President’s Award specifically recognizes how Holley is helping to move the conversation about working forests in ways that will ultimately benefit people around the world. Tall wood buildings, for example, with their carbon sequestration and related climate change benefits, are a focus for Plum Creek.
“We are pushing forward on the next generation of green buildings to help create the cities of the future.
Wood’s inherent properties – as a sustainable, natural, and renewable resource – make it an excellent environmental choice for any new construction or renovation,” said Rick Holley, Plum Creek Timber CEO.
Holley is also championing the idea that many of wood’s positive attributes depend in large part on whether the forest resource is renewed.
“Only 10 percent of the world’s forests are certified so we are seeking to expand sustainable forest certification broadly around the world. SFI has already come a long way, and it would not have happened without the tremendous support and dedication of past leaders, staff, our industry, the NGO and conservation community, and our customers. You know, the term, ‘It takes a village,’ is really appropriate as it relates to the founding and evolution of the SFI standards,” Holley said.
Holley’s leadership has also helped make Plum Creek a model SFI Program Participant when it comes to conservation and community building.
SFI Program Participants must engage in forest research. Two recent Plum Creek projects include following innovative ways to help brook trout by improving stream habitats and building new mapping tools for identifying vernal pools — temporary pools of water that provide habitat for plants and animals.
A high-profile community project saw a team from Plum Creek help the Michigan SFI Implementation Committee work with The Greening of Detroit to improve Detroit’s urban forests and revitalize the city through tree planting projects. The projects are job opportunities for city kids and adult workforce trainees, which in turn support sustainable communities. The Greening of Detroit has helped place almost 80 percent of trainees in full-time jobs.
Under Holley’s leadership since 1994, Plum Creek has grown into one of the largest and most geographically diverse landowners in the nation. Holley has ensured that Plum Creek has long conducted its business with a strong commitment to the environment. The company’s sustainable forestry practices support this commitment. All of its forest ownership is certified under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) standard. SFI Principles and Plum Creek’s manufacturing standards embed sustainability in the company’s activities in its working forests and in its manufacturing facilities.
“Rick Holley is an innovator and his support for tall wood buildings is a perfect example of his forward thinking. He was one of the early adopters of SFI and has served as our Chair. His support since the early 1990’s has helped make SFI a proof point for responsible forestry in the supply chain,” said Kathy Abusow, SFI Inc. President and CEO. “Rick’s enthusiasm and unwavering support for SFI is shared across Plum Creek. This award is just a small token of our deep appreciation for everything Rick does.”
ABOUT SFI
The Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) advances sustainability through forest-focused collaborations. We are an independent, nonprofit organization that leverages four interconnected pillars of work: standards, conservation, community, and education. SFI works with the forest sector, conservation groups, academics, researchers, brand owners, resource professionals, landowners, educators, local communities, Indigenous Peoples, and governments. Collaborating with our network, we leverage SFI-certified forests and products as powerful tools to help solve sustainability challenges such as climate action, conservation of biodiversity, education of future generations, and sustainable economic development.
MEDIA CONTACT
Christine Leduc
VP, Communications and Government Relations
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
613-706-1114
media@forests.org
About Plum Creek Timber Company
Plum Creek’s primary business is the ownership and sustainable management of 6.6 million acres of highly productive forestland in 19 states of the United States. In the past decade, we have planted more than 600 million trees, managed the natural regeneration of hundreds of millions more, and invested more than half a billion dollars in improving the health and productivity of our forests. Because of these investments and improvements, our harvests will grow in the coming decades. We currently sell to third parties more than 20 million tons of wood fiber annually in the form of premium logs, sawlogs, pulpwood and biomass. As of December 31, 2014, our business employed 1,300 people and earned 2013 revenues of $1.34 billion. As a public company, Plum Creek is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and trades under the symbol PCL. Learn more at www.plumcreek.com.
