BEAVERTON, OR

The Certified Forest Products Council (CFPC) president David Ford said in a recent address that the forest industry must boldly reinvent itself to remain vital in this and future generations.

The speech was made at a gathering of business and community leaders and government officials from Oregon and Washington state.

"The industry has the opportunity to transform itself from product manufacturer into service provider and our forests can be more than warehouses of raw material to be extracted," said Ford.

According to Ford, job one for the "new" forest services industry is stewardship, tending the forest resource in perpetuity on the public's behalf, and to make the forest resource available when asked.

"As stewards, the forest industry can also be credited for delivering all those services that exist before trees are converted into products, including habitat, biodiversity, water cleansing and storage, carbon sequestration, oxygen generation, recreation and spiritual sanctuary," Ford said.