'Cut trash, not trees' is rallying cry at ODU event

NORFOLK

Environmentalists and students rallied at Old Dominion University on Tuesday as part of a new push to curb clear-cutting of Southern forests to make fast-food paper packaging, much of which is later thrown away.

Led by the conservation group Dogwood Alliance, two dozen activists held signs such as "Cut Trash! Not Trees!" and urged students to sign petitions and pressure local fast-food restaurants into buying fewer paper products and only from timber companies that selectively harvest their forests.

"The fast-food industry should hear our message and seek better solutions," said Laura Ray, an ODU graduate student who pledged to lead a protest campaign on behalf of Dogwood Alliance.

Promising other actions in the months ahead, Ray was one of four speakers at a lunchtime rally outside Webb Center, where many students were eating a fast-food meal between classes.

Some stopped to listen and watch the goings-on; others kept walking.

Dogwood Alliance also released a report Tuesday - electronically, so as not to use excessive paper - that detailed the ecological richness of forests from Florida to Virginia and said companies such as International Paper are not doing enough to protect them.

The charge irked International Paper officials, who own and operate a large mill in Franklin, 40 miles west of Norfolk. The mill makes mostly white office paper but also manufactures consumer and industrial packaging.

"Like my mother told me, you need to pick your fights carefully, and, unfortunately, it doesn't appear they're doing that here," said Bob Stegemann, director of sustainability strategies for International Paper, based in Memphis, Tenn.

Stegemann said development pressures and conversion of forests to other uses pose much more serious environmental risks than the timber industry.

He noted that IP, beginning in 2007, adopted a policy requiring third-party certification for all its products to prove they derived from sustainable forestry practices.

Stegemann conceded that clear-cutting still occurs, including in Virginia, "but it's usually controlled and under rigid guidelines."

IP sold more than 215,000 acres of its timberland in 2006 in 10 states, including more than 20,000 acres in Virginia. The Nature Conservancy, an environmental group, was one of the biggest buyers.

Logging continues on much of that land but under service contracts and environmental controls.

"Consumers can make a difference by understanding the origin of their wood and paper and choosing products that are FSC-certified," said Dave Dadurka, a conservancy spokesman. FSC stands for Forest Stewardship Council.

Stegemann said Dogwood Alliance has been agitating against the company for several years now and that the two sides have met occasionally to bridge their gap.

"We both want more people to recycle; we both want sustainable forests to keep the Southern forests intact," Stegemann said.

The rally Tuesday culminated a month of organizing and recruiting at ODU and Tidewater Community College by Dogwood activists, who said Norfolk is the first stop on a campus-based awareness campaign across the Southeast.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com