THE STATE OF GEORGIA

EXECUTIVE ORDER

BY THE GOVERNOR:

WHEREAS:

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The State of Georgia is dedicated to the goals of energy efficiency,
economic growth, and protection of the State’s vast environmental
resources; and

Georgia’s forests are being sustainably managed to meet the numerous
environmental and economic needs of the State of Georgia, primarily by
thousands of private tree farmers and timber growers; and

The State leads the nation in commercially available privately—owned
timberlands and its forested area has remained stable over the past fifty
years at about 24 million acres; and

The State should undertake initiatives that foster cost-efficient and
ecologically responsible buildings; and

Reducing long—term operations and maintenance costs is essential to the
economic health of the State; and

So-called “Green Building” standards have the potential to reduce waste
in building; and

Said standards have certain requirements on the harvest of natural
construction materials but only some of the standards recognize equally
several forest certification systems currently utilized in Georgia and North
America; and

Georgia is a national leader in the growing and processing of wood
construction materials that are certified under the Sustainable Forestry
Initiative and the American Tree Farm System; and

The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system unfairly awards its
wood certification credits only to products certified to the Forest
Stewardship Council standard; and

Recognizing all forest certifications equally will help promote sustainable
forestry in the State of Georgia and help create thousands of jobs while
maintaining our strong outdoor heritage.