Sustainable Northwest Wood opens Portland hub for green builders
Sustainable Northwest Wood, a for-profit spin-off of the nonprofit Sustainable Northwest organization, officially swung open the doors of its Southeast Portland warehouse last week, capping months spent refining its business plan and establishing a new place for builders to buy sustainably harvested wood from around the state.
The warehouse stocks rare wood such as Blue Pine from Malheur County, Pacific Madrone and Myrtlewood in addition to sustainably harvested wood from around the state.
Sustainable Northwest Wood goes beyond the "green" certifications offered by organizations such as the Forest Stewardship Council, said the company’s president Ryan Temple.
“This is not just wood with a stamp,” Temple said. “It’s wood with a story.”
Speaking at the grand opening reception on April 1, Kevin Kaster, a mill owner from Mulino, said there’s a need for a central warehouse for wood such as the Western Red Cedar and Doug Fir that come out of his operation.
“If they found me, they would buy from me, but they would never find me,” he said of builders elsewhere in the state who are looking for particular types of certified sustainable wood.
Sustainable Northwest Wood launched in late 2008 but wasn’t planning on opening a warehouse until it became obvious that builders wanted just-in-time delivery of specific wood orders — not something that was easy to pull off as a fledgling business working with a number of mills spread around Oregon.
“Now the business has more to do with the efficiencies we can deliver to the mills and the customer,” said Temple, who had a background in wood brokerage before joining Sustainable Northwest, the nonprofit, in 2001 to work with struggling Eastern Oregon timber communities. “If it’s not economically viable it’s not sustainable.”
Sustainable Northwest Wood appears to be both. Temple said he expects to do $500,000 in sales this year. Sales during the last six months — not a robust time for the building industry — have been stronger than the previous 12 months.
The warehouse is located at 225A S.E. Division Place in Portland.
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