Mark Richey Woodworking granted FSC Leadership Award

Each year, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) recognizes uncommon excellence that advances responsible forest management and forest conservation with FSC-US Leadership Awards. This year, Mark Richey Woodworking was unanimously chosen for the award.

Mark Richey Woodworking operates a 130,000-sq.-ft., approximately 100-person factory that is powered by wind and solar and collects and burns manufacturing waste for heat in a biomass furnace.

Ted Wright, executive director of the Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands, nominated Mark Richey Woodworking for the award.

“I met Mark through the FSC certification process of a small property in New Hampshire,” Wright wrote in his nomination letter. “Mark was influential in driving the FSC certification of the property … .

“I had several conversations with Mark and through that process I realized Mark’s deep passion for responsible forestry, especially FSC. I knew an FSC Leadership Award would be a good fit for this company. I am honored to nominate them.”

Mark Richey Woodworking, which also owns and manufactures WallGoldfinger corporate furniture, has been an FSC Chain of Custody supplier since 2011.

The publishers of Woodworkers West, Pam and Ron Goldman, have decided to step back from publishing their bi-monthly magazine.

“As we look towards 2024, we realize maintaining this venture is no longer doable,” Ron Goldman wrote in the last issue. “Attending to personal care and squeezing in some other pursuits makes continuation of Woodworkers West, in its current format, not practical.

“We have been in conversations with other parties about taking over operations.”

Woodworkers West always did a great job covering West Coast events and makers. We wish the Goldmans well in their future endeavors.

Production has begun at Dura Supreme Cabinetry’s new manufacturing facility in Statesville, N.C.

“Over the last few months, the company has been hard at work setting up all the new state-of-the-art equipment, fine-tuning the layout of the building, as well as recruiting and training the first of the new North Carolina production team,” the company said.

“The new facility is designed to mirror the same state-of-the-art cabinet-making processes and quality craftsmanship practices that are already in action at [Dura Supreme’s] headquarters in Howard Lake, Minn., while providing the ability to increase their manufacturing capabilities to keep up with the demand for their highly requested cabinets. 

This article was originally published in the January 2024 issue.