Green Diamond Releases Sustainability Report
Press release from Green Diamond Resource Company which owns lands in Humboldt County.
(Please remember that this is not neutral reporting but a press release from an interested party):
Green Diamond Resource Company, the Seattle-based forest landowner and manager with roots back to 1890, [yesterday] released its first Sustainability Report. The report offers a look into its 2.2 million acres of working forests, natural climate solutions, dedicated employees, and community engagement.
“As a company, we continue to take a long view of forest management. We have made significant strides in forest land conservation. Conserving working forests for future generations is a win-win for global biodiversity and local economies,” said Douglas Reed, President of Green Diamond Resource Company. “Last year, we conducted a sustainability materiality assessment, compiled high-quality metrics and explored the role our timberlands play in addressing a changing climate, all of which align with our guiding principles and long-term goals.”
Green Diamond’s 2022 Sustainability Report highlights include:
- 1.5 million acres managed under federal state fish and wildlife conservation agreements
- More than 751,000 acres are in active listed carbon projects
- 93% of employees reporting satisfaction with Green Diamond as a place to work
- Reduction of recordable injury rate by 1.5% and our lost time rate by .4%
- Sponsorship of the Women’s Forest Congress
- Six years of the Opportunity Internship and Scholarship program
Today, 100% of the land owned and managed by Green Diamond is certified by the voluntary, world-leading Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) or Sustainable Forest Initiative® (SFI®) standards. The rigorous standards shape the company’s approach to providing essential forest products while helping advance sustainability through best practices and collaboration.
“When we work together, we benefit rural communities and support critical habitats that are home to countless species of wildlife, fish and plants,” Reed said. “We actively engage with partners to inform our practices on the landscape, like working with The Peregrine Fund on the recovery of the critically endangered California Condor. We’ve been a stewardship partner for over 100 years and we know we can’t do this alone, and we wouldn’t want to. We drive better results when we foster strong relationships and partnerships with tribes, conservation groups, small-forest landowners and others across our operating areas.”
The full report and additional information on Green Diamond’s sustainability efforts can be read online.
Green Diamond Resource Company is a privately held forest products company with roots dating back to 1890. Today, the company owns working forest lands in Washington, Oregon, Montana and California. A subsidiary, Green Diamond Management Company, provides forest management services in the U.S. South and West. All lands owned and managed by Green Diamond are independently audited and certified for sustainable forest management. More information about Green Diamond’s environmental leadership may be found at www.greendiamond.com.
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I call bullsh*t. There is nothing sustainable about their logging practices or their homogenous forests. And their truck drivers act like assh*les on the road while destroying them for others. Nice try though
Given that the press release is itself a good reflection of government social hypocrisy, while the area they logged off around here in patches 20 years ago is still pretty ravaged, it is a thousand times better for wildlife than houses, pot grows or other resource extractions. In another twenty years, the logging scars will have been buried under new growth, wildlife renewal and roads eroded into new woods. But the places people occupy will be damaged for centuries.
All they do is clearcut. There’s nothing responsible or sustainable about that.
Hmm… Odd stuff eh ?
Clear-cutting resembles the natural cycle of forests that are burned by wildfire.
Only difference there is usually no carbon-dioxide or smoke emitted, and the lumber goes to building homes.
I figure the USFS knows all about that, as they have incinerated a huge chunk of their forest-lands. The organic material is burned all the way down to the bare dirt.
Then then they don’t re-plant, and now there are acres of brush waiting for the next fire.
Go figure.
Traditionally, fires mostly burned the understory, leaving the mature trees with a healthier ecosystem than before the fire. Any areas that were naturally razed represented an incredibly small percentage of the overall forest. Nothing Green Diamond does is anywhere close to mimicking natural processes.
Here’s an image of Green Diamond land East of Trinidad.
In the natural cycle of fire, the soil is not churned and compacted by heavy equipment and logs being yarded. That’s a big difference–you can see it around Ruth, where a lot of private land was logged after the August fire, and remains a moonscape with stumps. Nearby land not harvested has a healthy cover of regenerating shrubs, wildflowers and grasses, and some trees. Some of those shrubs return nitrogen to the soil, fertilizing it.
Yup. Growing shrubs for the next wildfire. Go up and see the burned forest around Grizzly Camp (North Trinity Mtn).
15′ shrubs… next lightning strike… watch out !
They are our neighbors – whatta bunch of d*cks! (And that doesn’t say ducks) !
What did they do to you that was so d*cky?
A couple of things for the haters to consider. For one, to claim they are not ‘sustainable’ doesn’t make sense just by the fact that they exist today. That is, their property has been working forest since the 1950s at least. If they could not sustain harvesting with growth – they would be out of business. Perhaps time will tell. But on all accounts they seem to be doing just fine, 4th entry in some stands.
Another thing for GD critics to consider, is over time, clearcut size has gone down. Logging practices are nothing like they were in 90s, let alone 1960s. GD is mostly shovel logging and yarding, which has virtually no compaction/soil disturbance. They have way better roads and maintenance than ranches and private property, especially grow subdivisions. The rules governing logging are much more strict, more enforced, and more protective than any other time in our history. This is specific to California. Elsewhere, there are significantly less protections, if any. Clear cuts can be 80 acres in Oregon, 160 in Idaho, etc. (its only 20 acres in CA).
Like it or not, logging here is better, more protective and more sustainable. Only 1/3 of Humboldt’s forests are working forest. Another 1/3 public and parks, another 1/3 non-industrial private. This is a good balance, relative to some states our countries where anything goes, with zero accountability.
Of course if you hate logging and want to see forest product extraction sent off to third world countries so you can have a better view, just be sure you being honest with yourself about that fact.
Tree farms can be sustained, that does not mean that even-aged tree stands provide functional ecosystem services. You dont seem to understand what “sustainable” means.
What ecosystem services are missing from even aged forests?
They will always be Simpson to me… I’d rather be in a Simpson clearcut-NOT!
Mr. Reed, to see a properly managed and beautiful forest, take a walk in the selectively logged Arcata forest. Now that’s what I call sustainable forestry.