Heat & Energy
Community & Economy
Arts
C&E Economic Development
Experiential Education
Job Training
Marketing Programs
Public/Private Partnerships
Stewardship Contracts
Tourism & Recreation
Other Community & Economy
Conservation
Ecosystem Services
Forest Management
Fuels Reduction
Infrastructure
Restoration
Forest Products
Compendium References
|
Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities PartnershipLocation: Portland, OR - Pacific Northwest Region Contact: Ryan Temple - info@hfhcp.org Sustainable Northwest, a non-profit network of businesses, environmental and job training organizations, and Colleges in the Pacific Northwest, creates environmentally sound forest-based economic opportunities in small communities through its collaborative The Healthy Forests, Healthy CommunitiesTM Partnership project. By finding new ways to foster land stewardship by using common by-products of forest health management, this non-profit also uses for-profit sustainable business principles to sustain and help coordinate all levels of the regional marketplace: from sustainable sourcing of raw materials, employee and management training for living-wage manufacturing jobs, supply chain, marketing, and sales. In Northern California, HFHCP established two complementary community cooperatives: The Watershed Research and Training Center (WRTC), to first undertake restoration activities and provide environmental sustainability education; and the Trinity County Business Incubator to develop the ability to process the by-products of their restoration activities into useful products such as poles, flooring, furniture and fixtures. This residual material - formerly unused species of wood, and small-diameter traditional woods that used to be burned or chipped as waste - was transformed from being a cost of doing business to being a low-cost raw material for manufacturing. By offering low rent limited-term leases, access to a shared pool of tools and business administration resources, and a place to network with peers, the business incubator has fostered businesses such as Jefferson State Forest Products, which manufactures retail food and flower displays for regional stores, and for Whole Foods Inc. worldwide. HFHCP not only creates new business, it helps to re-tool and reinvigorate existing wood products industry. In Lake County, Oregon, Sustainable Northwest HFHCP worked with stakeholders to reauthorize the Lakeview Federal Sustained Yield Unit in the Fremont-Winema National Forest, which saved a mill, and will build the first-ever community-run biomass plant. Finally, in marketing and sales, HFHCP products are FSC certified, and HFHCP labels its products with the story of the wood origin, who makes the product, and how its sale contributes to the goals of forest communities. Additionally, in order to help pay for its programs, HFHCP retails some products that are made by its manufacturing partners. For more about:
|
 |
 |