Sunday, 02 November 2003
Minnesota Parks Project is a Truly Green Building
Lebanon Hills Visitor Center Opens With Extensive Use of FSC Materials
In October 2003, Dakota County, MN welcomed guests with open arms to the new Lebanon Hills Visitor Center. The Center, and its surrounding acres of prairies, woodlands, lakes and wetlands, will provide environmental education and outdoor recreation opportunities, recreation equipment rental, access to waterways and miles of trails, and visitor services (such as meeting spaces) to the parks.
The 6,000 sq. ft., $2.6 million building, which is a model of sustainable design and construction, was created with more than $27,000 worth of FSC-certified products, and is unique in the upper Midwest because it is the first building of its kind to implement sustainable principles all the way through from planning and construction to building operation. With it’s great attention to detail in terms of site selection, materials use and energy efficiency, LEED certification will be sought for the Center. LEED, a program of the U.S. Green Building Council is a commercial building design guideline and third-party certification tool and continues to gain in popularity across the country.
Paul Anderson, the Director of the Environmental Education Studio for the project architect Partners and Sirny, worked to specify as much FSC material as possible. Anderson, a LEED-accredited professional, and team members Brandon Sigrist and Amanda Hitt worked carefully on specifying and researching needed materials, including working with the Certified Wood and Paper Association to make the necessary supply chain links. Anderson said the process was a “positive experience" and that they believe they used enough FSC material to qualify for the certified wood credit under the LEED rating system.
Stephanie Le Gros, Outdoor Education Supervisor for Dakota County, stated that they wanted to use FSC-certified wood both in the construction and continuing operations of the Center (including bookshelves, tables, picnic tables, etc.) due to the “great benefit and value we receive, because it allows us to first 'practice what we are preaching’, and secondly, allows us to actually use the building as a teachable model."
Le Gros indicated that they hope to influence the purchasing decision-making of those who visit the center by demonstrating their use of FSC products.
FSC material used for the Center included:• Hem-fir framing lumber from The Collins Companies, harvested from the Collins Lakeview Forest in Lakeview, OR.• Western fir plywood from Roseburg Forest Products, harvested from the Roseburg forest in northern CA.• Birch interior trim, harvested from the nearby FSC-certified forests of Aitkin County, MN and purchased through Certified Wood Products.
Dan Haugen of Certified Wood Products stated that he was, “pleased to have the opportunity to link two Minnesota counties together for this important project. Aitkin County had the FSC-certified forest, and Dakota County wanted to reward excellent forest management." He also agreed that teamwork played a major role in specifying and sourcing the FSC-certified materials, and Partners and Sirny and Dakota County decision makers, “deserve a lot of credit for their flexibility. They agreed to change the millwork specifications midstream to a more forest friendly 'character grade’ of white birch. This decision allowed a native underutilized species to be showcased in a unique learning center."
Other commercial construction projects in the upper midwest planning to make use of FSC-certified materials include the Hartley Nature Center in Duluth, MN, the headquarters and visitor center for the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway (a program of the National Parks Service) in St. Croix Falls, WI, and the Mary Gibbs Headwaters Center at Itasca State Park (a program of the MN Department of Natural Resources) in Park Rapids, MN.