North Pacific and Cascade Wood Products Commit to Protect Chile's Native Forests

Contact: Kristi Chester Vance, 415 863 4563, ext 303, Kristi@forestethics.org

Portland – North Pacific Group, one of the top 15 U.S. importers of Chilean wood products, has adopted two new environmental policies that will help to protect Chile’s endangered native forests, which include the second largest temperate rainforest in the world. Chile’s endangered forests have been the subject of an international environmental campaign that created intense controversy both in Chile and in the U.S. wood products industry. Central to the controversy has been the common and devastating practice of clearcutting Chile’s endangered native forests to make way for pine plantations. Pine products are Chile’s primary wood export.

In its new policies, North Pacific states that it will give preference to wood suppliers that have made written commitments to cease converting Chilean native forests into plantations. The new policies also give preference to Chilean wood that is certified according to standards that do not permit the conversion of native forests into plantations.

“With these new commitments for Chile’s endangered forests, North Pacific becomes an environmental leader for the U.S. wood products industry,” said Aaron Sanger, Chile Program Director at ForestEthics. “Because North Pacific has been a respected industry leader for many years, the company’s commitments to endangered forest protection are very important for the future of the world’s forests.”

The practice of destroying endangered native forests to make way for pine plantations not only threatens the world’s second largest remaining temperate rainforest with extinction, it also threatens the survival of endangered river otters, wildcats, marsupials, woodpeckers, owls, frogs and plants that exist nowhere else in the world. Communities that live in and around native forests also suffer devastating consequences when native forests are converted into tree plantations. Water, a precious resource, is channeled towards the plantations, leaving communities in drought conditions for years on end. Chemical spraying, which is necessary to keep the plantations growing at a lucrative pace, sends local residents to the hospital.

Over the past two years, Chile’s environmental practices, particularly around the issue of plantations, have come under increased international scrutiny as the country has experienced perhaps its most contentious environmental campaign. Last September, a New York Times advertisement highlighting the fate of Chile’s endangered native forests brought an international spotlight to this issue. Chile’s two largest wood producing companies, Arauco and CMPC, have begun working with environmental organizations to implement policies that protect endangered forests and promote more ecologically and socially sensitive management of radiata pine plantations.

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CASCADE WOOD PRODUCTS RELEASE:

Cascade Wood Products Commits to Protect Chile’s Endangered Forests

For immediate release - November 11, 2003

Contact: Kristi Chester Vance, 415 863 4563, ext 303, Kristi@forestethics.org

Portland – Cascade Wood Products, one of the top 15 U.S. importers of Chilean wood, has formally committed to protect Chile’s native forests, which include the second largest temperate rainforest in the world. Cascade’s main Chilean import is radiata pine, a type of wood not native to Chile that is used primarily in homebuilding. At the heart of Cascade’s commitment is a demand that Chilean wood suppliers stop the devastating practice of clearcutting endangered native forests to make way for pine plantations. Chile’s endangered forests and their conversion to plantations has been the subject of an international environmental campaign that created intense controversy both in Chile and in the U.S. wood products industry.

Cascade is asking all of its Chilean wood suppliers to confirm that they are not engaging in the practice of conversion. The company will continue to purchase wood from Chile as long as the wood is not from a plantation that replaced a native forest in 1994 or after.

“Cascade’s commitment to protect Chile’s endangered forests is good for the forests, the local communities, and Cascade’s bottom line,” said Aaron Sanger, Director of the Chile Program at ForestEthics. “Everyday, more US consumers insist on products that don’t destroy the world’s last remaining endangered forests. The future is bright for companies like Cascade that heed the public’s demand for endangered forest protection.”

The practice of destroying endangered native forests to make way for pine plantations not only threatens the world’s second largest remaining temperate rainforest with extinction, it also threatens the survival of endangered river otters, wildcats, marsupials, woodpeckers, owls, frogs and plants that exist nowhere else in the world.

Communities that live in and around native forests also suffer devastating consequences when native forests are converted into tree plantations. Water, a precious resource, is channeled towards the plantations, leaving communities in drought conditions for years on end. Chemical spraying, which is necessary to keep the plantations growing at a lucrative pace, sends local residents to the hospital.

Over the past two years, Chile’s environmental practices, particularly around the issue of plantations, have come under increased international scrutiny as the country has experienced perhaps its most contentious environmental campaign. Last September, a New York Times advertisement highlighting the fate of Chile’s endangered native forests brought an international spotlight to this issue. Chile’s two largest wood producing companies, Arauco and CMPC, have begun working with environmental organizations to implement policies that protect endangered forests and promote more ecologically and socially sensitive management of radiata pine plantations.

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