“Buy Local” Quality Seal for Forest Industry Announced at Heyes Forest Products in Orange, MA

“Buy Local” Quality Seal for Forest Industry Announced at Heyes Forest Products in Orange, MA Scott Soares, MDAR Commissioner Referencing more than 300 years  that farming, fishing and forestry  have been indispensable to New  England's landscape and economy,  Massachusetts Department of  Agriculture Commissioner Scott Soares  unveiled the new Quality Seal for  Forest Products before environmental,  agricultural and forestry officials as well  as industry leaders and local well-wishers gathered at Heyes Forest  Products in Orange, MA.  The Quality Seal for Forest Products  is intended to replicate the success  of the Buy Local campaign for food  products with locally grown and  harvested forest products. “Forest products have always been part of  a rich, diverse agricultural history in Massachusetts,”  Commissioner Soares commented. “Commonwealth Quality provides  consumers an assurance that they are receiving a product that was  harvested and manufactured in Massachusetts using sustainable  practices that promote responsible land management.” Heyes Forest Products display "What we hope it will do is  provide the industry the ability  to increase its marketability based  on the standards of operation  they employ,” Soares added. The seal will also be made  available for locally grown  and sustainably harvested  cord wood. Andy Finton, Nature Conservancy Andy Finton, director of conservation  science for The Nature Conservancy  in Massachusetts, stated that locally grown  wood products help support local foresters  and harvesters, and encourages family  forest owners to keep their forest as  forest and protect wildlife habitat. “Some areas of our state are 90 percent  forested with many small communities tucked into vast swaths of  canopy cover,” Finton explained.  “We have over 3 million acres of forest in Massachusetts.  Relative to our size, we’re the eighth most forested state.” "One advantage we owe to our forests is exceptional  water quality. Towns like Springfield and Pittsfield rely  on reservoirs that are shielded by the Berkshire forests,”  Finton stated. “Our water in Boston is protected  by forests around the Quabbin reservoir. And these  forests also sequester large amounts of carbon.  In fact, forests in the Northeast absorb 12 to 15 percent  of the carbon put into our atmosphere.” “With so many landowners living in such close proximity  to desirable forestland, development pressures are intense.  The need for both protection and good stewardship is essential,” Finton stated. The gathering included environmental, agricultural, forestry & wood products officials as well as local well-wishers.  “The Nature Conservancy has long believed that the forest products economy  is an important part of the conservation equation, and we see the Commonwealth  Quality program as a useful strategy for sustainable forest resource management  in Massachusetts.” Fred Heyes Fred Heyes, the owner/operator of one of five  designated Commonwealth Quality suppliers,  spoke of the future of farms and forests in Massachusetts  being dependent on developing a demand for local products.  Heyes’ 42-year-old wholesale and retail business sells  2.5 million feet of lumber and specialty products locally,  as well as around New England and beyond. “Very little of the wood each of us consumes in Massachusetts  is locally grown,” Heyes commented. “Less than 5% of wood  products purchased in Massachusetts are from Massachusetts forests.” Click to enlarge To show this point a tall pine tree was displayed whole  but cut into logs, pulp and residuals and representing  the average annual usage of forest products for each and  every person, each year. Also displayed next to the tree  was a pile of boards equal to the board feet in that tree,  and on top of that pile a very small pile of boards equal  to the 5% of our needs we now source locally. David Short of Amherst Woodworking & Supply, Inc.  in Northampton, another Commonwealth Quality supplier,  spoke of the difference between the carbon footprint created from the molding and  flooring manufactured within 40 miles which had been logged, sawn, dried and  supplied from Heyes Forest Products versus  products grown in China such as bamboo -  which is actually a grass. Short explained that these products are marketed as “green”  despite the fact that the bamboo is grown  where there is little to no environmental standards and is a highly industrialized product that has an enormous carbon  footprint due to its transport to markets  around the globe. Additional Commonwealth Quality suppliers,  not present, include Gurney’s Sawmill, East Freetown, Specialty Wood Products in Cheshire, and W. R. Robinson Lumber, Wheelwright. Following the presentation, state officials,  foresters and other visitors boarded a bus  for a tour of a one of the many forested  areas owned by Heyes that is protected  under a state Fisheries and Wildlife  conservation restriction, and enrolled in the  Chapter 61 tax program. The 357 acre parcel,  harvested regularly during the last 20 years had  been thinned three years earlier and provided  an excellent demonstration of the long-term  land management he practices for an increasing  forest crop assuring also the protection of both  water quality and wildlife habitat. Fred Heyes led the tour of his conservation restricted forest For further information on the Quality Seal  brand for Massachusetts grown, harvested  and processed products - using practices that  are safe, sustainable and don’t harm the  environment -  visit: http://www.mass.gov/agr/markets/commonwealth_quality.htm Photo Credit and Story: Genevieve Fraser