Over the last few years, the Asheville, North Carolina-based Dogwood Alliance has been clear about its opposition to logging and the forest products industry. But now that Dogwood is being confronted with the negative environmental and economic consequences of its extreme anti-forestry positions, its spokesperson is responding with an odd claim: that Dogwood actually supports the forests products industry.
It’s an absurd and laughable claim that flies in the face of Dogwood’s extreme proclamations from its senior leadership and its own dangerous policy recommendations.
Last week, a Dogwood communications specialist stated that the Dogwood Alliance is “actually pro-forestry and forest products industry too.”
Does the Dogwood Alliance really support forests products and sustainable forestry? Not at all.
In an article published last March, Dogwood’s Executive Director embraced the extreme position to keep all forests “in the ground.” She argued against utilizing wood even as a “climate friendly substitute” for steel, fuel, clothing, plastic bags and straws.
“In addition to fuel, wood is often promoted as a ‘climate friendly’ substitute for steel in building skyscrapers, a source of ‘renew-able’ fuel for the aviation industry, as a ‘natural’ fiber material for clothing and as a ‘biodegradable’ alternative to plastics (i.e. bags and straws.) Yet, the reality is that keeping forest carbon in the ground is as important as keeping fossil fuel carbon in the ground.”
The Dogwood Alliance even claims on its website that the forests products industry has a “destructive climate legacy” and attacks landowners who engage in sustainable forestry because they “cut down their forests as soon as money can be made from them.” The Dogwood Alliance also wants to stop “market expansion” by paper companies and goes after “industrial logging” on its home page.
That’s not all. The Dogwood Alliance frequently argues that the forest products and biomass industries are bad for local economies, and they’ve even gone so far as to advocate for a massive government intervention into private land ownership in order to maximize carbon sequestration from North Carolina’s forest land, a policy that would effectively end the state’s forest products industry and eliminate 70,000 jobs.
The Dogwood Alliance wants to, as they say, keep “forest carbon in the ground.” They don’t want sustainable forestry and logging to exist, even if it creates products that replace single-use plastics.
When the Dogwood Alliance says they are “pro-forestry,” don’t believe them. It’s simply not true.
Tags: Dogwood Alliance