It appears the costs of the chain of custody would eat up any real increase in value of Certified wood products. Individually, few small woodlot owners are likely to benefit from selling certified logs from their forest. Producing high quality wood products is very easy to do on a small scale. A group of owners can mill, dry and manufacture retail products, and will learn a lot about forestry in the process. This forest owner cooperative virtually eliminates the chain of custody.
Certification makes sense and gives a special niche to make marketing even easier.
If any premium is possible for Certified wood, it will go directly back to the forest owner who manages the land. At Timbergreen, we have this cooperative idea already working on a small scale. We are working with the University of Wisconsin - Center for Cooperatives and Cooperative Development Services to build this idea on a large scale. We believe a SmartWood Certified - Forest Owner's Value Added Cooperative will bring all the pieces of the puzzle together to make Sustainable Forestry on private land a profitable and rewarding business for woodlot owners. Our plan is available for additional information.