Forest Certification Benchmark Draft

We (Perkins+Will) are in the process of reviewing both the credit language and the proposed benchmark. We plan on posting a more complete opinion to LEEDuser, however at first blush it looks to us like the Benchmark continues to be a signficant reduction from the current FSC requirements. In our opinion, the governance is weak (which is a very serious issue) and the 'field' requirements for forest management are reduced as well.

If you would like to look at our 'OLD' review and opinion on the PREVIOUS 3rd USGBC Benchmark DRAFT you can visit our website - so far the Final benchmark looks similar to the 3rd DRAFT that we reviewed last spring:
http://www.perkinswill.com/news/fsc-equal-%2B-better-.html

Here's a Direct Link to our proposed Regenerative Forestry Benchmark which includes comments on the 3rd USGBC DRAFT and recommendations to improve it.

http://www.perkinswill.com/files/FSC-Equal-Better.pdf

This is a very important topic - thanks for opening the dialogue.
Doug

Hi Janika - Your new post is very timely! We (Perkins+Will) are recommending a 'NO" Vote on the USGBC's proposed MR 7 Credit revisions. We've completed our review and just recently posted our opinon about what we consider to be key deficiencies on our website. In our opinion, the proposed Forest Benchmark is clearly a step backwards, signficantly reducing the standards for Forest Management and Wood Certification bodies.

You can view our comments here:
http://www.perkinswill.com/news/fsc-equal-or-better---our-position.html

I must admit that I'm not fully versed on how the evaluation process would be handled and would have to do more research. We've focused our efforts on the proposed Forest Benchmark, as it sets the basic protocal / criteria for establishing both a certification body and the field criteria for managing a forest. Maybe someone else can offer insight on proposed USGBC implementation.

Best Regards,
Doug

The final result on this issue was "no change to MRc7", correct? I seem to recall reading this in one of the postings on LEED User, but cannot seem to find it now. Can you direct me to a document of the final result I can share with my project team?

Hi Jeremy - The proposed USGBC Forest Benchmark was voted down by the USGBC membership in late 2010 and FSC remains the MR 7 Credits required certification. Here's the link to the USGBC web page that states that:
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=2378

There are other MR 7 Credit changes proposed for LEED 2012 - here's the USGBC webpage with the official status:
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=2360

Here's a link to the Building Green Article covering the USGBC Forest Benchmark Ballot and Voting results:
http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm/2010/12/7/Not-Enough-Votes...

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