Certifications

"The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international organization that brings people together to find solutions which promote responsible stewardship of the world’s forests."

Western Wood Products Association (WWPA) provides Quality Control Certification and lumber grading and technical support services to their member mills.  Columbia Vista Corporation has been awarded certification in their Quality Management System program as well individual and company HI-Q awards. The HI-Q recognizes and rewards proficiency among a mill’s certified graders. It provides an incentive for graders to strive for the highest possible grading proficiency. Columbia Vista has a minimum of 75% of the inspected volume graded by employee HI-Q qualifiers, a strict requirement for achieving this award.

STAR Washington Labor & Industries Voluntary Protection Plan Safety Certification. There are less than 1700 companies in the U.S. that have received this certification for exemplary safety performance.

"Our environmental management plan calls for at least 65 % of all our open market log purchases to be from SFI , FSC or other certified forests. In 2004, over 90% of all logs met this criteria. We are audited by NSF-ISR, a leading registrar in the number of completed EMS registrations and was one of the first registrars to become accredited through the ANSI/RAB National Accreditation Program. NSF-ISR is also accredited as an ISO 14001 Registrar by RvA..." NSF-ISR: ISO 14001.

"The National Environmental Performance Track program is a voluntary partnership program that recognizes and rewards businesses and public facilities that demonstrate strong environmental performance beyond current requirements. It encourages continuous environmental improvement through the use of environmental management systems, local community involvement, and measurable results..." National Environmental Performace Track.

Columbia Vista, which employs 100 at two locations in Washington, has been recognized by Labor & Industries for a number of reasons, including its participation in an industrywide ergonomics project, involving employees in finding ergonomic solutions, and achieving productivity gains while reducing the risk of injury.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has created the Green Power Partnership to assist and promote organizations that commit to using green power for a portion of their electricity needs. The innovative, collaborative nature of this voluntary program gives interested organizations access to EPA resources designed to help reduce the environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity use.

Columbia Vista is now the third largest purchaser of Green Lights Power, voluntarily paying a higher price for 100 percent of its electricity at Fruit Valley and 31% of the company’s total usage. Columbia Vista’s Green lights purchase is equal to preventing more than 2.3 million pounds of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere each year. This capturing of carbon dioxide has reduced Columbia Vista’s carbon footprint to negative 51,707 pounds of CO2 per month. This has the same environmental benefit as planting 444 acres of trees or not driving more then 2.4 million miles.

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