| SAN FRANCISCO, CA - September 3 - In a major breakthrough for the forest products industry, Boise Cascade Corporation (NYSE: BCC) today raised the bar for environmental standards with the release of “Boise and the Environment” (www.bc.com/environment/statement.pdf), a landmark, private sector commitment to forest protection. The announcement is one of the most important corporate advances in forest protection since Home Depot’s (NYSE: HD) commitment to stop selling wood from endangered forests, a victory that Time magazine rated the top environmental story of 1999. Rainforest Action Network (RAN) today sent letters to the 12 most environmentally destructive U.S. forest products companies challenging them to meet or beat Boise’s commitment (www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/old_growth/dirtydozen.html).
Among the “Dirty Dozen” are the top loggers of U.S. national forests, the largest importers and distributors of endangered, old growth forest products, the worst converters of native forests to monocultural plantations, and the leading manufacturers of non-recycled, virgin tree paper. The “Dirty Dozen” includes Bowater (NYSE: BOW), Georgia-Pacific (NYSE: GP), International Paper (NYSE: IP), Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE: LPX), MeadWestvaco (NYSE: MWV), Plum Creek Timber (NYSE: PCL), Potlatch (NYSE: PCH), Rayonier (NYSE: RYN), Sierra Pacific Industries, Sweetheart Holdings, Universal Forest Products (Nasdaq: USPI) and Weyerhaeuser (NYSE: WY), all of which are Boise competitors or suppliers.
“Logging, distributing or selling endangered forests is a barbaric, outdated practice that has entered its endgame in the American marketplace. Any company that is still engaged in this practice is on the wrong side of history. It is baffling how, in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence, logging companies have ignored the handwriting on the wall this long. Although we prefer a collaborative approach, if these companies won’t respond to the pleas of scientists and the demands of their customers, then we are prepared to take this debate to each company’s board of directors, its shareholders, its customers, and the American people.” said Michael Brune, Executive Director of Rainforest Action Network.
“Rainforest Action Network and our allies are staying the course because polls have shown that Americans care where their two-by-fours and toilet paper come from. While the Bush administration is selling out the American people by allowing even more commercial logging on taxpayer-owned land, Boise has shown what a real initiative for healthy forests looks like. Boise’s commitment demonstrates that industrial evolution is possible. It should serve as a wake up call to loggers: evolve or go extinct.” said Jennifer Krill, Old Growth Campaign Director of Rainforest Action Network.
To save the world’s remaining old growth forests and sustain the resources that underlie forest products, the industry must immediately take steps to identify, map and protect endangered forests on both public and private lands, harvest wood sustainably according to the principles and criteria of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and dramatically increase post-consumer waste (PCW) recycled content in all paper products.
Following Home Depot’s 1999 commitment to stop selling old growth wood, six of the world’s top 10 lumber retailers and three of America’s largest homebuilders joined over 400 other companies including Kinko’s, Levi-Strauss, and IKEA to make meaningful commitments to protect endangered forests. According to a 2001 Los Angeles Times poll, 9 in 10 Americans favor wilderness protection.
Nearly 80% of Earth’s virgin, old growth forests have already been destroyed or degraded, and 96% of America’s original forests are gone forever. Tropical rainforests contain at least half of all life on Earth, and global deforestation is causing a mass extinction of life, unparalleled since the disappearance of the dinosaurs.
Rainforest Action Network works to protect the Earth's rainforests and support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots organizing, and nonviolent direct action.
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