Saturday, 01 June 2002
FSC Wood Featured in Jersey Shore Boardwalks Bill
New Jersey’s General Assembly recently passed Bill 447, which prohibits New Jersey cities from using state money to purchase tropical wood for boardwalk replacement or improvement unless the wood is from an FSC-certified forest.
The bill was a result of the Sierra Club and Rainforest Relief working with the state on wood procurement for repairs to the boardwalk in Asbury Park on the Jersey shore. Originally the community had planned to use ipe (e•pay), a Brazilian rainforest hardwood resilient to rain and sun and popular for outdoor installations. Citing the common illegal and irresponsible logging practices in the rainforests that supply ipe, Assemblymen Robert J. Smith and Gary L. Guear introduced legislation that requires such wood must come from the FSC wood tracking chain-of-custody system. In order to become law, the bill must be passed by the New Jersey Senate. Contact the New Jersey Sierra Club at 609.924.3141 for more information.“No municipality may use any State monies from grants, loans, or any other source for the installation, purchase, replacement, or restoration of boardwalks using tropical wood, unless the tropical wood used or to be used has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council…"
-- Excerpted from NJ bill no. 447