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Hoyt Street Uses Destructively Harvested Tropical Wood in "Green" Buildings
 
According to David Thompson at Brookside Veneers in New Jersey, the wood used in the cabinet veneers at The Encore is actually a wood from West African rainforests called obeche (Triplochiton scleroxylon). The World Conservation Monitoring Centre states that "Obeche occurs in abundance in transitional forest formations. Its range is extending because of its successful colonisation of logged and abandoned farm land. Exploitation of the wood is very heavy and, in places, unsustainable, both for local use and the international timber trade. Of all West Africa timbers this species is extracted at the highest volumes.' (2). According to a 2000 report by Greenpeace Belgium, 'Less than 20 % of Cameroon's unprotected forests remains free from logging development. Almost all logging in Cameroon is carried out in a very destructive way and illegal logging is a major issue. The extremely high level of corruption in Cameroon and the dramatic lack of capacity (staff, equipment) in the forestry departments are serious constraints for enforcement of the forestry legislation. In the East province, home to the majority of the concession area, one forestry-official is responsible for an average of almost 21,000 hectares of concession!' (3). A 2001 report by Forests Monitor Ltd. in England on European logging companies notes that in Cameroon, 'As concessions become exhausted, companies are moving ever further into primary forest areas and logging operations have moved eastwards from the coast over time. To log only the best trees of a few high value species, companies drive roads into large areas of previously inaccessible forest, thereby facilitating an influx of people seeking employment and opening the forest up to other activities such as commercial bushmeat hunting and agricultural encroachment. The logging industry has directly and indirectly facilitated a large increase in commercial bushmeat hunting, with wildlife being decimated in many areas' (4). The Forests Monitor report specifically discusses Alpi (the Italian company that owns the logging concessions that supply the veneers to be used at The Encore). The report states that 'During the early 1990s, a consultancy report for the International Tropical Timber Organisation found that forest management in the concessions of Alpicam and Grumcam (run by Alpi) was unsustainable, partly as a consequence of the then forestry law. As with most operators in Cameroon, the groups commitment to implementing sustainable forest management remains unproven' (4). Another article that zeroes in on the bushmeat trade related to logging in Africa can be seen at the Rainforest Relief website (5). The logging problems in Cameroon are not going away, and may be getting worse. A 2005 article in the Mail and Guardian estimates that 50% of logging in Cameroon is illegal (6). This figure also is cited by Greenpeace International (7). Regarding the 'mahogany' flooring, we have not been able to ascertain the actual species to be used, since neither Hoyt nor Boora Architects (which specified the wood) will tell us. Usually flooring is not made with true Latin American mahogany, but is made from another South American rainforest species, Myroxylon balsamum, marketed as Santos mahogany, another species originating from old growth rainforests and considered at risk and in need of further review by the CITES Plants Committee and in need of regional action. Logging in South American primary rainforests generally is highly unsustainable. Damage to forests from logging is combined with construction of logging roads that often are the primary means of forest invasion by colonists, ranchers and farmers who then cut and burn the remaining forest. In Brazil, a leading supplier of Santos mahogany, approximately 60-80% of all logging is done illegally, often in nature reserves or on lands of indigenous people, according to Greenpeace International (7). The only way to verify that a wood product has come from a known source is through certification under the protocols of the Forest Stewardship Council. The tropical wood products being used in The Encore and The Metropolitan have not been certified under these protocols, and are associated with the damage or destruction of rainforests. Rainforest Relief has offered to work with Hoyt Street Properties to find alternatives to these unsustainable materials that are in better alignment with the environmental focus of the company, and to apply lessons learned to future developments. Hoyt has declined these offers, and continues to use these destructive materials. With the high impacts of rainforest logging on biodiversity, carbon storage, and indigenous people, Hoyt is undoing much of the good that it claims with other 'green' building practices. Please contact Hoyt and ask them to stop using tropical woods unless they are independently certified as coming from well-managed, second-growth forests, and to develop a rainforest-safe wood use policy. Here is the contact information: Ms. Tiffany Sweitzer, CEO Hoyt Street Properties Property Development 809 NW 11th Ave. Portland, OR 97209 P: (503) 227-6677 F: (503) 227-0147 Email: TiffanyS@hoytstreetproperties.com For more information on general effects of logging in the tropics, click here. References (1) http://www.rainforestrelief.org/About_Us/Successes.html (2) http://www.ggcg.st/botany/trees_eg.htm (3) http://archive.greenpeace.org/forests/africa/index2.htm (4) http://www.forestsmonitor.org/en/reports/540539 (5) http://www.rainforestrelief.org/documents/Bushmeat_2nd_Deadly_Harvest.pdf (6) http://www.mg.co.za/articledirect.aspx?articleid=260030&area=%2finsight%2finsight__africa%2f) (7) http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/forests/threats/illegal-logging |
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