Volunteers in Hibbing started work Friday on the first Habitat for Humanity home in the nation built from certified sustainable wood donated by local landowners and loggers.
The new house on East 39th Street is being built with wood from trees cut on the property of state Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, and was certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, an industry-backed group that certifies forests as managed and logged in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Hibbing's Kelli Ritz and her daughter will move into the single-story, 1,100-square-foot home later this summer.
The project began in January when trees were cut on Bakk's tree farm near Cook. Logging was conducted by Cliff Shermer. The wood was manufactured into oriented strand board by Ainsworth. Additional trees donated by St. Louis County Commissioner Keith Nelson from his tree farm near Eveleth were made into lumber for the home, with work donated by East Dhu River sawmill in Mountain Iron.
Earlier this month, seedlings were replanted on Bakk's tree farm donated by the University of Minnesota and planted by youth groups.
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Other materials for the home are donated by Lake States Lumber, Louisiana Pacific, Marvin Windows and other companies participating in the Minnesota Sustainable Forestry Initiative Program. Several Minnesota paper and board manufacturers also donated toward construction of the home.
