USDA Plan to Promote use of Green Building and Wood to Keep Forests as Forests
Last evening before a star-studded crowd representing the who’s who of forests in the U.S., Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack went where none of his predecessors had ever gone. Using the launch of the United Nation’s International Year of Forests 2011 as backdrop, Vilsack committed the USDA Forest Service and the entire
USDA to “preferentially select wood in new building construction, increase commitment to research and development around green building products, and demonstrate innovative uses of wood as a green building material.”
“Wood has a vital role to play in meeting the growing demand for green building materials. Forest Service studies show that wood compares favorably to competing materials,” said Vilsack. “In keeping with the Obama Administration’s America’s Great Outdoors conservation agenda, USDA has made a strong commitment to conserving and restoring our forests to protect watersheds, recreation, and rural jobs.”
“As a relatively new entrant to the field of sustainable forestry and needs of rural forest-reliant communities, we at the Endowment applaud the Secretary’s vision and commitment to reaffirm the leadership on forestry and forest products issues that has made the Forest Service the envy of the world over for more than a century,” said Endowment President and CEO Carlton Owen. The Endowment already has number of strong partnerships with the Forest Service on issues as wide-ranging as biotechnology and the potential to advance forest health to a joint venture on uses of woody biomass to keep forests as forests through markets while creating family-supporting jobs. The work the Endowment has pioneered on USDA Research and Promotion programs (commodity check-offs) if adopted by the forest industry, will offer a sea
change opportunity to turn the Secretary’s vision into reality.
