The proposed revision to the LEED® Certified Wood Credit (MR-7), which currently recognizes only FSC-certified wood products, proposes to change the credit intent and remove singular recognition of FSC-certified products, instead recognizing any forest certification system that meets the Benchmark's requirements.
Leading environmental organizations - including the Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace - "support FSC certification in LEED because it represents the gold standard in forest management." These groups and seven others have issued a letter urging USGBC members to vote "negative, with reason" to the weakened standards. "Clearly, a credit whose stated intent is to encourage exemplary‚ forest management should reward wood from forests whose management surpasses status quo practices," the groups said.
The entire LEED program will come up for revision in 2012. View a copy of the letter from Environmental groups: http://www.fscus.org/images/documents/green_building/ENGO_letter.pdf