Sustainable Northwest Guardedly Optimist On Green Wood Future

Leah Nash for The Wall Street JournalGreenTracker| WSJ writes up Sustainable Northwest in ‘Green Wood’ Lumberyard out on a Limb , with a focus on the challenges nonprofit Sustainable Northwest has to become a financially sustainable distributor of ‘green wood’.  While one supporter and the first half of the read suggests that the concept could go bust, the entire article ends on an optimistic note.

Sustainable Northwest serves as a conduit for about 28 small mills that have retooled operations to focus on younger, more diverse trees than Douglas firs logged in ancient forests.

Obvously, Sustainable Northwest suffered tremendously in the housing crisis, but orders are on track to triple this year $130,000 for the year ended in November to $360,000 this year, said Ryan Temple, president of the yard.

The lumberyard’s monthly losses have narrowed over the past year to about $8,000 from $17,000 and its Board of Directors seems committed to staying the course, unless Sustainable Northwest is hit again with a major housing crisis. The company is moving to stock other eco-friendly materials like flooring, that carry higher margins.