Video of Check-off Conference Available in Two Formats

On October 21st, 2008, the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) hosted a workshop in Seattle, Washington, to formally roll-out its work and recommendations on commodity check-offs and their potential to benefit forests, forest-reliant communities and the greater forest industry across North America.  The session was attended by more than 30 CEOs and senior leaders representing greater than 50% of North American softwood building products production.  The center-piece of the session consisted of a panel of check-off experts representing the U.S. Department of Agriculture and four agricultural commodity programs – beef, potatoes, blueberries and mangos.

“The next phase of the initiative will be led by an independent Blue Ribbon Commission that will consider all of the details of a possible wood products check-off that could be considered for implementation perhaps in 2010,” said Endowment President Carlton Owen.  “In the meantime, we wanted to more broadly share some of the rich background information from the Seattle meeting.”  The Endowment has created a video (not quite ready for Hollywood) of the meeting introduction, expert panel presentations and discussions that followed.  It is available on the Publications page of the Endowment website (to view click here).  For organizations that wish to use the information in a conference setting, a limited number of DVDs are available from the Endowment.  To obtain a copy please contact Carlton Owen at carlton@usendowment.org or 864-233-7646.