Rona wanders into a dark forest

Gordon Hamilton, The Vancouver Sun – 3 May 2011
Canadian home improvement giant Rona has pulled a green-tinged commercial it was airing on NHL playoff hockey games after running into complaints from the forest sector that it was unfairly maligning B.C. Douglas fir.

It’s not that the ad’s message was wrong; it urged consumers to avoid threatened tree species in favour of Forest-Stewardship Council-certified wood products; it was what it singled out: Old-growth Douglas fir and the solution it recommended: FSC-certified wood. Old-growth Douglas fir is not threatened; Some of the micro-climates it inhabits in southwestern B.C. along with Garry Oak are under pressure; more from development than from logging, but the species itself is thriving in both Coast and Interior forests. In a letter to Rona from the Canadian Institute of Forestry, president Wayne Kelly says: “The commercial included the statement: ‘old-growth Douglas fir is an endangered species in  Canada.’ This is incorrect and could leave viewers with the mistaken impression that forest practices in British Columbia’s Douglas fir forests are unsustainable and use of Douglas fir products should be avoided.”
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