1. Responsible Procurement Program

2. 83% of hardwood forest land in the United States is privately owned.  There are approximately 4 million private forest owners with an average lot size of 20 hectares.  Sale of such hardwood logs occur only once in a generation. To satisfy the “green” movement USGBC and other organizations are requiring the use of hardwood harvested from FSC certified forest land.  If a project requires FSC lumber, most manufacturers are forced to import FSC wood from international sources rather than avail itself of the renewable US hardwood.

5. The goal of the NWFA Responsible Procurement Program (RPP) is to harness the power of the U.S. wood flooring industry to recognize and promote environmentally- and socially-responsible forest management in the regions that supply the timber on which we all depend. Key RPP partners include SCS, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) U.S., and the FSC Family Forests Alliance.

6. Key Program Elements The NWFA Responsible Procurement Program is: 1)     open to all NWFA members; 2)     voluntary; 3)     transparent; 4)     intended to bring about real change in the wood products trade; 5)     overseen by an independent third-party auditing firm, Scientific Certification Systems. The NWFA Responsible Procurement Program recognizes that Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification represents the “leading standard” in environmental performance in forest management practices.

7. The NWFA RPP entails a commitment to continuous progress within the RPP framework and provides progressive “tiers” which participants moving upward toward ever-higher levels of social and environmental performance.

8. Program Tiers • Tier 1 • Companies that manufacture (either domestically or overseas) wood flooring made from raw materials originating in the U.S. shall engage in the NWFA Verified Sourced from U.S. Renewing Forests. • 1.) This means that they: • shall procure wood from U.S. forests that have been found to meet basic criteria for renewability which are: • a.      The forests from which wood is sourced are in states in which annual data released by the USDA Forest Service confirm state-wide timber growth exceeds total hardwood timber loss or removal through harvest or mortality.

9. 2.) The company shall participate in the NWFA Chain-of-Custody (CoC) system as administered  by SCS. Companies who satisfy the above requirements are entitled to use the “NWFA Verified Sourced from U.S. Renewing Forests” label in off-product claims only.

10. Companies that are: •         an overseas manufacturer and/or importer of finished wood flooring made from raw materials originating from a country listed as being high-risk for illegal logging •                                        OR •         a manufacturer and/or importer of overseas materials used in the manufacture of wood flooring domestically for which raw materials originate in a country listed as being at high- risk for illegal logging • shall enroll in the NWFA Verified Legal Program which entails engaging with an NWFA-approved organization that provides legality verification to ensure that wood imported from high-risk areas meets NWFA definitions for “Verified Legal Imported”.

11. Verified Legal Imported (VLI) -- also referred to as Legal Right to Harvest, VLI means that the Forest Manager has authorization from the forest owners to harvest in the forest management unit under a valid permit, license, or similar instrument issued pursuant to the laws and regulations governing the harvesting of forest resources. Companies manufacturing products from timber sources in regions meeting NWFA definitions for “Verified Legal Imported” and who participate in the NWFA CoC system are entitled to use the “NWFA Verified Legal Imported” label in off-product claims only. Before it can advance to Tier 2/NWFA, it must verify that ALL products made from raw materials originating in high-risk countries have completed the Verified Legal Imported program; alternatively, the participant must cease trading in such products. Program participants should advance to Tier 2 within 3 years of entering the program.

12. Tier 2: • At the intermediate level of commitment and achievement, Program participants agree to the following: • The company will obtain FSC Chain-of-Custody (CoC) certification. • The company must actively manufacture and/or trade FSC-certified products and establish targets to increase its sales of FSC-certified products over time. • The company must join the FSC Procurement Group. • After 2 years in Tier 2 or 5 Years in the program, must meet FSC controlled wood standards for all their non-FSC wood supply.

13. Tier 3: • The highest level of achievement in the NWFA Responsible Procurement Program is Tier 3. • This level is reserved for Program Participants who meet all Tier 1 and Tier 2 requirements, and who, in addition, either: •        meet Program benchmarks for 3 or more years in a row without interruption •                            and/or •        achieve sales of FSC-certified products that constitute 50% or more of overall company sales in a single year.

14. Labeling and Promotion The NWFA Responsible Procurement Program introduces a new label into the marketplace for off-product claims only: NWFA Verified. This basic label has two variants, depending on which element of the Program applies to a given product line: 1)    NWFA Verified – Sourced from U.S Renewing Forests 2)    NWFA Verified – Legal Imported Use of the NWFA Verified label is allowed in off-product claims – and can only be used in promotional and marketing materials such as websites, brochures, and merchandising. Boxes or bundles of wood flooring cannot bear the NWFA Verified label in any of its variations. Instead, they must bear a code which will be issued by SCS after the company has successfully passed an NWFA CoC audit.

15. It is important that NWFA members and Program participants understand the defined and limited scope of the claims associated with these labels. The NWFA Verified Sourced from U.S. Renewing Forests label represents that participating manufacturers procure their raw materials from U.S. forest regions: 1) where timber growth exceeds removal at the statewide level,                                            and 2) that are considered at low risk of illegal logging, conversion to non-forest uses, threats to high conservation values, etc. The NWFA Verified Legal Imported label represent that participating manufacturers procure their raw materials from regions/countries that meet Program definitions of Verified Legal Import.

16. These labels are not intended to imply that the forests of origin are “responsibly,” and/or “well” managed at the level of the individual management unit. The NWFA Verified label in all of its variations is a transitional label that is intended to give way, in due course, to FSC certification.

17. Continuous Progress Program participants commit to continuous progress, both of sales of approved products and within the tiered framework of the Program.

18. Baselines and Benchmarks All participants in the NWFA Responsible Procurement Program will start out by calculating the percentage of products sold that: 1)     meets NWFA Verified Sourced from U.S. Forests; AND 2)     meets NWFA Verified Legal Import requirements; AND 3)     is FSC-certified. The baseline will be used to establish benchmarks for future increases in sales (by percentage of overall sales rather than in absolute terms) of products that meet NWFA Verified Sourced from U.S. Renewing Forests, NWFA Verified Import and/or FSC.

19. FSC Procurement Group The FSC Procurement Group will play a central role to pool industry purchasing power to help overcome the barriers to the FSC certification of family forest lands across the hardwood region of the U.S. The FSC Procurement Group is led by NWFA and NWFA member companies and works closely with organizations such as FSC-US and the FSC Family Forests Alliance. It aims to make FSC certification more attractive to small, private landowners across the hardwood region.

20. We are going to ask manufacturers' log and lumber buyers to do training on FSC certification and FSC group certification and then give preference to FSC supply where it exists in their procurement area. We will also be: 1.) working with the FSC Family Forest Alliance and FSC-US to extend group certification into the wood baskets of the participating manufacturers, and 2.) working with FSC-US and the certifiers to understand and connect with the supply that already exists or is coming on line in the near future.

21. In the near term, the FSC Procurement Group will take the following steps: 1)     An NWFA staff person will be tasked to the Group; 2)     An Advisory Board will be established that will include major partners to the Group as well as representatives of the NWFA board and of key NWFA Responsible Procurement Program participants; 3)     NWFA staff and the Advisory Board will develop an Action Plan that will identify annual goals, strategies, and tactics for the Group. 4)     NWFA staff and the Advisory Board will examine the feasibility of establishing an FSC Family Forest Fund that could make strategic investments over time toward Initiative goals.

22. Responsible Procurement Program