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RELEASE: April 30, 2008
CONTACT: Neil Ward (301/838-9385) Rockville, MD – The Forest Resources Association and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry & Communities are cooperating in a process to define and implement projects that show promise of improving the U.S. wood supply chain’s future. On January 31, Endowment President Carlton Owen and FRA President Richard Lewis led an initial “scoping” meeting with 18 individuals representing diverse sectors within the wood supply chain--wood suppliers, mills, landowners, equipment manufacturers, and research organizations--to define a consensus on the most crucial challenges now facing the wood supply chain and the businesses, communities, and forests that depend on it. Participants in that meeting identified several supply chain issues for which there was consensus that action would be both productive and feasible. A full report on that meeting may be downloaded at www.usendowment.org/images/State_of_Timber_Industry_3_.pdf A nine-member Steering Committee was formed to develop and review specific proposals that might be put forward for the Endowment’s and other cooperators’ consideration. The Steering Committee consists of Danny Dructor (American Loggers Council), Jim Fendig (Wood Supply Research Institute), Dale Greene (University of Georgia), D.K. Knight (Hatton-Brown Publishers), Richard Lewis (Forest Resources Association), Carlton Owen (U.S. Endowment for Forestry & Communities), Jim Petersen (Evergreen Foundation), Tom Reed (Plum Creek), and Joe Young (Low Country Forest Products). This Committee expects to refine the desired features of several potential proposals at future meetings.
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities works collaboratively with
partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic,
transformative, and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the
nation’s working forests and forest-reliant communities. ###### Forest Resources Association
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