TECHNICAL INFORMATION
EarthSource Forest Products began as an outgrowth of Plywood And Lumber Sales Inc.
(PALS), a longtime San Francisco Bay Area wood products supplier founded by Jeff
Hunt in 1983. EarthSource was born in 1997 as demand for green products began to
significantly increase from architects, designers and woodworkers throughout the
Bay Area and even outside of California.
Hunt, a longtime advocate of sustainable forestry and building practices, in the
mid-1990s started looking into the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)'s work to promote
and certify responsibly managed forests worldwide. PALS had already substantially
reduced its purchases from Indonesia and other countries with questionable or unethical
forestry practices. EarthSource is one of the largest suppliers of FSC wood in North
America.
Today, EarthSource's inventory has expanded to include as much environmentally healthy,
low- or no-emitting wood panels and flooring products as it has certified materials.
The company’s philosophy is simple: To sell sustainable, environmentally healthy
wood at no premium over traditional products.
What is FSC-Certified
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a non-profit organization devoted to encouraging
the responsible management of the world’s forests. FSC sets high standards that
ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial,
and economically viable way.
Landowners and companies that sell timber or forest products seek certification
as a way to verify to consumers that they have practiced forestry consistent with
FSC standards. Independent, certification organizations are accredited by FSC to
carry out assessments of forest management to determine if standards have been met.
These certifiers also verify that companies claiming to sell FSC-certified products
have tracked their supply back to FSC-certified sources. This chain of custody certification
assures that consumers can trust the FSC label. Our FSC-certification number is: SCS-COC-00006.
Complementing its range of FSC-certified lumber and panels, EarthSource also offers
an extensive selection of salvaged or "rediscovered" wood products from all over
the world. These are certified under the Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood Rediscovered
program, which evaluates forest product operations that reclaim or use reclaimed,
recycled and/or salvaged wood materials. This program is available to mills, secondary
manufacturers, brokers/distributors, wholesalers, etc. and addresses certification
of products that are not eligible for Forest Stewardship Council certification as
recycled or reclaimed. EarthSource's SmartWood rediscovered number is SW-RW-026.
What does reclaimed or rediscovered mean?
A good portion of EarthSource's lumber inventory comes from reclaimed or rediscovered
sources. That is, the wood, or the trees from which it came, had already been used
or were salvaged in some way. A great example of this was when EarthSource cleaned
up, free of charge, Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage estate in Tennessee, a national monument
and FSC forest that had been damaged by a tornado. The company salvaged the trees
and milled them for architectural applications.
The U.S. Green Building Council members developed Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) Certification as a means to define "green building"
under a common standard of measurement, stimulate green competition, raise consumer
awareness of green building benefits, transform the building market, promote integrated,
whole-building design practices, and recognize environmental leadership in the building
industry.
A large majority of EarthSource's certified wood and wood products can earn architects
and designers points to meet LEED goals. Please call or visit EarthSource to find
out which products meet LEED standards.