Smith Flooring Begins Making FSC-certified Solid O

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Smith Flooring Begins Making FSC-certified Solid O
Mountain View, MO, February 7--Smith Flooring last month completed its first run of FSC-certified oak flooring since achieving chain of custody certification from the Forest Stewardship Council late last year. The recent flooring run, approximately 200,000 board feet, was made from lumber produced from trees grown in the Pioneer Forest, a privately-held 154,000-acre hardwood forest in the Ozark Mountains of south central Missouri that gained FSC certification in 2003. The company expects annual production of the FSC certified flooring to be approximately 1.2 million board feet. FSC certification refers to third party affirmation that forest land is managed in a responsible and sustainable manner according to guidelines set out by the Forest Stewardship Council. Chain of custody certification ensures that products coming from a FSC-certified forest are not intermingled with non-certified products as they moved through the manufacturing and distribution chains. According to the Forest Stewardship Council there are fewer than a dozen certified flooring manufacturers in North America supplying certified solid oak. Of those listed, Smith Flooring is the largest producer overall and likely the largest producer of certified product, according to the company. According to Jon Smith, Smith Flooring chief executive officer, the certified flooring is likely to represent approximately 10% of the company’s annual production. According to Smith and Pioneer Forest manager Clinton Trammel, there are currently only two sawmills in the area which have attained FSC chain of custody certification and Smith Flooring is purchasing virtually all of those two mills’ production. In addition to running a flooring mill, Smith Flooring also manages a small amount of company-owned forest land, as well as a flooring distribution center in Springfield, Missouri. The company is currently attempting to have its forest lands certified, which would increase the amount of certified flooring it is capable of producing.