continued

While not claiming that Weyerhaeuser broke any laws, the Sierra Club complaint contends the company relied on a loophole in state law that allowed it to go forward with logging plans based on a 1994 company environmental assessment called a watershed analysis, instead of adhering to stricter environmental regulations enacted after the 1994 report was written.

The obsolete watershed analysis turned out to be a poor predictor of potential slides, according to the Sierra Club. Using data from the state Department of Natural Resources, the complaint identifies 1,259 landslides on Weyerhaeuser land — two-thirds of the total number of landslides that the storm is believed to have caused.

Weyerhaeuser's Godbout confirms that the 1994 watershed analysis was "the baseline" used to determine where to log. But he says the document was probably updated between 1999 and 2001, according to company policy, and upgraded again in 2001 to reflect changes in state law.

Acceptable Risks and Practices

Though executives of the timber company maintain that there is little they could have done to prevent the 2007 devastation, they did conduct in-house technical studies after the storm and made changes to logging practices as a result.

Most notably, the company now requires geological reviews for all logging planned in areas with a 70 percent slope or higher. Weyerhaeuser has also started using LIDAR, aerial laser scanning of the landscape that allows staff to "see through the trees" to examine in detail the landforms that can play a role in landslides.

"We've gone out and upgraded our technology to the state of the art that's available in terms of trying to locate the areas of potential instability," Godbout says. He adds that the company has also improved management oversight and built new internal peer review into the process. "We've got multiple eyes looking at the technical audits and triggers," he says.

But Montgomery, the University of Washington geomorphologist, says Weyerhaeuser scientists were already in possession of scientific research that warned of the region's instability nearly a decade before the 2007 storm. One 1998 paper he co-authored with a Weyerhaeuser in-house scientist and a colleague at the University of Washington concluded that two watersheds that later suffered extensive landslides in 2007 — Chehalis and Stillman — were among the most unstable watersheds in the 2,993-square kilometer (1,156-square-mile) region examined. "The Chehalis and Stillman areas showed up as among the more slide-prone," Montgomery says.

Weyerhaeuser officials respond by saying that more than 60 percent of the landslides from the 2007 storm occurred at sites Montgomery's 1998 paper had not singled out as high-risk areas.

Company spokesman Greg French writes in an email: "A major factor contributing to the poor predictive power of the [Montgomery's] model during this event was that the model was developed for storms of much lower intensity than that experienced by the Upper Chehalis and Stillman Creek watersheds during the 2007 storm. The huge amount of rainfall caused sites that normally would be stable to fail."

Green Profits

Green building has emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments of the construction industry. It represented just 2 percent of the housing market in 2005, but is expected to account for as much as a quarter of commercial construction starts and one in five new homes by 2013, according to McGraw Hill Construction's Green Outlook 2009 market intelligence report.

The growth has been so impressive — even in the current recession — that mainstream logging and construction companies have moved aggressively into this arena. To compete with the USGBC's highly-regarded LEED program, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently rolled out its own "green" home-building standard, plus a companion logo system for building products.

And the NAHB program, as well as the industry-backed building certification system called Green Globes, have lobbied with some success for the inclusion of their programs in new zoning rules being adopted around the country, as well as in emerging federal, state, and local guidelines that call for green building in the construction of schools and other government buildings.

SFI has been a big part of the timber industry's green market push. The SFI label is accepted by the NAHB and Green Globes systems, and SFI has rapidly certified more than 163 million acres (66 million hectares) of North American forests. In the United States, FSC has certified 100 million acres (40.5 million hectares) of forests.

With a budget of $5.5 million a year — $1.8 million of which went to the advertising firm Porter Novelli in 2007 — SFI has also made some competitive inroads. The label has been embraced by several large corporations that represent significant forest-product purchasing; Wal-Mart and publishers such as Forbes and Time, Inc. are among the companies that have moved to SFI-certified wood in recent years.

But SFI, Green Globes, and other green building initiatives tied closely to big timber and construction industries have come under increasing criticism for greenwashing, and are struggling to achieve credibility among people more closely tuned into the sustainability debate.

Peter Goldman is the Seattle attorney representing the Sierra Club and ForestEthics in the three recent complaints that together mount the most sweeping challenge to SFI to date. He says of SFI, "They are masters at confusing the market."

"We believe in the market," he adds. "We just want a level playing field and believe the market will take care of the rest."

A dogged former prosecutor who quit criminal law a dozen years ago to open the Washington Forest Law Center in Seattle, Goldman has had SFI in his sights for a while. He crafted a 2006 complaint lodged with SFI against Weyerhaeuser for another one of his environmental group clients, the Seattle Audubon Society. That year, he also represented the group in a lawsuit against Weyerhaeuser that led to a settlement protecting Washington state spotted owl habitat after a federal judge ruled that the company's logging violated the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Seattle Audubon's 2006 complaint to SFI against Weyerhaeuser was withdrawn, according to Abusow.

LEED Saga Continues

The assault on SFI's credibility is unfolding as the USGBC gets ready to vote on new benchmarks defining the sustainable sourcing of wood products within the framework of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the preeminent green building certification system in the United States.

While SFI has Green Globes and NAHB recognition, the LEED system currently recognizes only FSC-certified lumber as sustainably sourced. But as soon as early next year, USGBC officials hope to have new benchmarks in place that will open the door for other forest certification systems. While three or four different programs could potentially benefit, a pitched battle is underway between SFI and FSC supporters.

Timber and construction giants, trade associations such as the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) and NAHB, and some business-friendly environmental groups are backing SFI. Loose coalitions of green building pioneers and more stringent environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and ForestEthics, support FSC.

What the USGBC does is being closely watched and may be pivotal to the future of sustainable forestry. After the first draft of the new benchmarks was issued last year, SFI supporters were ecstatic. Abusow, the SFI president, told ArchitectureWeek in July 2009: "It's fabulous. We are very, very pleased." FSC supporters, however, were furious and stepped up pressure on the USGBC to address what they saw as loopholes and vague language.

The tables were turned last month when the USGBC issued the long-awaited second draft of the wood benchmarks. This time, SFI and the AF&PA were up in arms over the proposed rules. SFI issued a statement on September 30 that said: "The benchmarks miss the point; in fact they miss several points and therefore several opportunities for the growing green building marketplace to recognize wood products from third-party-certified, well-managed forests."

AF&PA has also stepped up its criticism of the USGBC, charging, among other things, that the green building council discriminates against wood certified by SFI and the American Tree Farm System, another certification system.

In its October 21 counter-complaint to the FTC, the coalition including Weyerhaeuser called ForestEthic's September 9 complaint "unsupported and without merit," and made a series of allegations against FSC and USGBC. Among them were concerns about whether FSC adequately audits and polices its members' forestry practices. But the 15-page letter saves its strongest words for the USGBC, asking the FTC to investigate "anti-competitive activities and monopolization arising out the USGBC's LEED system and preference for FSC certified products."

The complaint suggests USGBC is in violation of anti-trust laws by recognizing only FSC lumber. It asks the agency to provide guidance to all standards-setting organizations on compliance with anti-trust laws.

USGBC spokesperson Ashley Katz confirms that the group hopes to finish the drafting process and send the benchmark proposals to the organization's members for a vote within the next few months, and get the new rules in place in early 2010.

This fall's skirmishes between the SFI and FSC camps come too late to influence the drafting process. But bad publicity could play a role in how USGBC members vote on the benchmarks.

Weyerhaeuser, meanwhile, has until mid-November to provide SFI with its response to the Sierra Club complaint. If the Weyerhaeuser response doesn't satisfy the Sierra Club, Abusow says the independent company that originally carried out the SFI certification audit on Weyerhaeuser's land will investigate. She wasn't sure how long that investigation could take. But the Sierra Club has already put SFI on notice that it is ready to seek further reviews if it is not satisfied with the auditor's report.

As humans struggle, and another rainy season creeps up on the Northwest forests, millions of acres of trees stand in splendid silence.

Christine MacDonald is the author of Green, Inc.: An Environmental Insider Reveals How a Good Cause Has Gone Bad, Lyons Press, 2008.   More by Christine MacDonald

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SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE Using heavy equipment to clear the SR 6 landslide near Pe Ell, Washington. Photo: Courtesy U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Extra Large Image The Pe Ell mudslide destroyed two homes and a garage on the opposite side of SR 6. Photo: Courtesy Washington State Dept. of Transportation Extra Large Image SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE Differences in water permeability between successive soil layers can contribute to landslide development. Image: Dr. J. David Rogers, PE/ Courtesy USGS Extra Large Image In January 2009, landslides occurred in some clear-cut areas in the Cowlitz River watershed in the western foothills of the Cascade Mountains, near Chehalis, Washington, including areas depicted here, near Glenoma. Photo: Courtesy Washington State DNR Extra Large Image Washington State Department of Natural Resources map depicting landslides near Glenoma, Washington. Image: Washington State DNR Extra Large Image Landslides along the Tilton River in the Cowlitz watershed, January 2009. Photo: Courtesy Washington State DNR Extra Large Image Washington State DNR map depicting landslides near along the Tilton River. Image: Washington State DNR Extra Large Image Map documenting landslide locations in Washington during the January 2009 storm. A dense cluster of landslides occurred in part of the Cowlitz River watershed where extensive logging had also taken place. Image: Washington State DNR Extra Large Image Satellite imagery illustrates the extent of clear-cutting in the Cowlitz River watershed, including a checkerboard of mile-on-a-side clear-cuts just north of Mossyrock, Washington. Image: Courtesy Google Maps Extra Large Image Aerial view of checkerboard clear-cuts. Photo: Kevin Matthews/ Artifice Images Extra Large Image   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.