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| Our new website is being developed! If you would like more information, please contact Harry Groot at 540-639-3077 or harry@nextgenwoods.com. The Blue Ridge Forest Cooperative (BRFC) is a member-owned business that helps its members improve the value of their forest lands and increase the returns on their timber harvests. Members of the Coop must own at least ten acres of forestland and have their principle place of business or residence in the Commonwealth of Virginia. BRFC expects to begin enrolling new members and selling investment stock on May 1, 2006. The Coop helps its members practice profitable, sustainable forestry by managing members’ harvesting, processing, manufacturing, marketing and selling of forest products, all according to the standards of the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), a nonprofit organization committed to the responsible management of the world’s forests. Membership in the Cooperative is especially attractive for forest landowners committed to long term growth in the value of their forest. Harvesting to maximize the long term value of the forest requires more initial resources—time, money, specialized equipment and techniques—than conventional “liquidation” harvesting. Obtaining and maintaining FSC certification requires expenditures not typical of conventional commodity market-driven forest product systems. However, many conventional forestry practices do not consider, or consider only minimally, indirect or non-economic costs and benefits, such as: * Visual aesthetics of the forest in which the landowner lives and/or recreates; * Clean water that results from sound forest practices; * Enhanced wildlife and habitat creation or maintenance; * Steady income generation as opposed to one-time liquidations. Practicing sustainable forestry in cooperation with other owners of FSC-certified forests allows landowners to market their forest products in an integrated system without middlemen, improving their ultimate economic return and offsetting the increased costs. This return is expected to increase as the Cooperative achieves economies of scale associated with a robust membership and the associated ongoing cycles of harvest, production, sales and marketing. The Cooperative is positioned to capitalize on a recent surge in the demand for FSC-certified wood products arising from the LEED program of the US Green Building Council and state and federal mandates requiring “green” construction. Certification of building projects is awarded for their sustainability based on a point system, which includes the use of FSC-certified wood products and products produced within a 500-mile transportation radius. The Cooperative is located within 500 miles of most eastern seaboard, Southern and mid-Atlantic metropolitan areas, which comprise over half of the US population. As one of only a few businesses marketing certified forest products in the region, the Cooperative plans to capitalize on its access to these under-served markets. |
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