NEWS RELEASES

 FREDERICTON, New Brunswick – Habitat for Humanity Fredericton Area is building a two-family home on Hanwell Road with wood products from responsible sources donated by members of the New Brunswick Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®) Implementation Committee.

The committee donated $4,000 to buy building materials, and two of its members – J.D. Irving Ltd. and Huber Engineered Woods LLC – also donated dimensional lumber and structural panels. The structure, which includes an assisted-living rental suite, will be the first home in New Brunswick to be certified to the Build Green Canada green rating program.

“The SFI Implementation Committee and its members have been huge supporters of our efforts to build a safe, affordable ‘green’ home. This is an important partnership for Habitat Fredericton,” Mike Ross, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Fredericton Area, said today. “Our Hanwell Road project means a hard-working, low-income family can transition to successful home ownership, and offset their long-term costs through a rental arrangement while a person with a disability will enjoy a properly designed, efficient, accessible home.”

“Working with Habitat for Humanity is such a fantastic way to demonstrate the many benefits of the SFI program for the forests, the communities and the economy of New Brunswick,” said Marc Pinette, chair of the New Brunswick SFI Implementation Committee.

Construction of the home began this week, and a building blitz day will be held on Saturday, Sept. 24. In addition to SFI, other project participants include TD Canada Trust, Stantec, Enbridge Gas, Recycle New Brunswick, CFB Gagetown Engineering/Construction, MacDonald Builders, New Brunswick Community College (Woodstock), Clowaters Plumbing and Heating, and Lafarge Canada Inc.

“We are proud to be involved in this project which also has an environmental emphasis, with the involvement of SFI and Built Green Canada,” said Eric Hovey, financial advisor of TD Canada Trust Prospect St. in Fredericton. “TD Canada Trust is committed to supporting grassroots community and environmental projects – and this meets both our objectives.”

Independent non-profit SFI Inc. manages the largest single forest certification standard in the world, with more than 75 million hectares/185 million acres of certified lands in North America. Almost all of the 3.9 million hectares/9.6 million acres of certified lands in New Brunswick are certified to the SFI 2010-2014 Standard.

Local SFI Implementation Committees meet the needs of communities across Canada and the United States by raising public understanding about forestry and ensuring the SFI Standard is implemented consistently. The New Brunswick committee includes interested stakeholders, the provincial government and SFI program participants. The Association of Registered Professional Foresters of New Brunswick serves as its general administrator.

“SFI moves beyond its rigorous certification standard to achieve so much more by working with community-based organizations like Habitat for Humanity,” said SFI President and CEO Kathy Abusow. “It is such an effective way to give back to communities, and encourage the use of wood products from certified forests in New Brunswick.”

To date, SFI partners and participants have donated time and resources for Habitat projects in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Tennessee, Maine and Minnesota – including the first Habitat home on a First Nations reserve in Canada and the first Habitat homes certified to the Built Green Canada and the ANSI/ICC 700-2008: National Green Building Standard green rating systems.