In 1849, thousands of ambitious prospectors and families headed west to California, to stake their claims during the Gold Rush. They hoped to be among those lucky enough to own their share of the precious and valuable commodity.

As Indiana woodland owners, you have staked your claims in a valuable resource as well. Along with thousands of others, you control over 85% of the supply for Indiana’s largest agricultural industry. A report published by the DNR in 2008 valued the hardwood industry’s annual economic impact at $17 billion (yes, with a "b").

If you don’t already feel more powerful, you should. Without you, the industry cannot supply the world with highly coveted Indiana hardwood products – from office furniture and cabinets, to floors and moldings. As demand for these products goes, so goes the value of your trees.

For those of you who include timber harvests and sales in your management plans, you must necessarily see yourselves as suppliers to the industry – business partners if you will. As a business partner, you help yourself when you help your buyers.

Right now, those buyers of your trees are in a quandary. The issue at hand is whether it is necessary to sell "certified" hardwood products. Much like you, they philosophically reject the notion that North American hardwoods need to be third-party certified. After all, isn’t this certification nonsense supposed to be about making sure the logs were harvested legally from sustainable forests? This isn’t Russia, or a rain forest! This is good ol’ Indiana, where we’ve been documented as sustainable for years, and where timber theft is a felony.

Meanwhile, however, as we stick rigidly to our principles, one cannot pick up a newspaper or magazine these days without being deluged with the "green" movement. From recycling, to talks of global warming, the green movement is gaining market share. More importantly to us, architects, designers and builders are increasingly producing "green" buildings, which currently require certified wood in order to amass "green" points. Whether anyone likes it or not, companies that sell certified wood are taking business from those who don’t.

For Hoosier hardwood manufacturers, it’s not that simple. Even those who might like to sell certified wood face the obstacle called "chain-of-custody" verification, which means that, at some level, the woodland owner needs to be part of the process. Good luck convincing tens of thousands of Indiana forest owners that it is a good idea to seek certification individually. You might as well be a "revenuer" paying a house call to Snuffy Smith! "You want me to do WHAT?"

In a small group of people from six other states recently, I was asked what a Hoosier was. I explained to them that there are many theories, but the best I could offer was that it was more about a way of doing things, than about an iconic symbol.

Being a Hoosier can also bode well for you in this regard in a couple of different ways. First, if our tendency to be independent and pragmatic rejects the notion of certifying our private woodlots, then our nature of being self-sufficient and resilient rescues us. Secondly, we live in a state with policy-makers who understand and appreciate the role that forestry plays in our economy and our quality of life. We also have a very forward-thinking state forester who has put in place a way of "group certifying" our private landowners, currently those who participate in the Classified Forest program. We are also working toward group certifying small sawmills, to maintain a chain of custody trail and get certified Indiana hardwoods into the marketplace without cost increases that would make us uncompetitive.

Indiana producers can also take advantage of earning green points for local sourcing of the materials, further increasing the value of your trees. While our initial reaction may be one of balking at the need to certify our trees that are already verified sustainable, there can also be positive ramifications down the road.

I think these ramifications include the opportunities to rid the state of certain "bad actors" in the timber community, particularly those who do not implement BMP’s and leave the harvest sight in poor condition. These scourges give the industry a black eye, and cause local governments to put in place policies or ordinances, which devalue your trees by reducing the amount of bidders for a job in your county.

By taking this approach, we have been successful over the last five years in causing the enactment of several new laws in Indiana, from directly lobbying at the statehouse and promoting the economic importance of the hardwood industry to our state and its forestland owners. Ironically, each of these laws directly benefited WOODLAND OWNERS more that hardwood manufacturing firms.

By showing that we are capable of self-policing, through our logger training courses and commitment to BMP’s, we’ve earned the credibility that has caused counties like Monroe and Pike to soften their anti-forestry ordinances and protect the value of those trees, which in many cases have been in the same family ownership for many generations.

As forest landowners, I encourage you to understand and appreciate your important role in the state’s forest products industry, and help us tell the world that the very best hardwood products come from Indiana’s sustainable forests.

By doing so, you are helping Indiana maintain it’s reputation as a leader in its approach toward finding the right balance between the economic importance of hardwoods and our duty as stewards of a sustainable, green resource. For now, your best bet is to participate in Classified Forest if eligible.

You are essential partners to the Indiana forest products industry. We will always look after your rights to independently manage your forests without needless intervention or anti-harvesting policies. We look to you to help supply us with the products that our customers desire. After all, isn’t working together what being a Hoosier is all about?