It is, some may say, the most "natural" example of Dartmouth's symbiotic, keep-each-other-afloat attitude toward the surrounding community: a partnership that begins with College-owned trees, brings in local businesses and culminates in solid hardwood products.
In a joint venture with Vermont-based furniture company Island Pond Woodworkers, Dartmouth provides a local industry with business while reaping its own benefits as well.
Three hours from Hanover lies the wilderness of the Second College Grant, one of Dartmouth's most valuable physical resources. It has been a goal of the College to utilize the Grant, according to Woodland Operations director Kevin Evans. With this end in mind, Dartmouth uses Grant wood to make furniture for use in its multitude of buildings.
Over the last three to four years, the wood coming from the Grant has gone to making products for the College, including furniture for the East Wheelock cluster such as desks, dressers and beds. Grant wood was also the primary source for the wooden furniture at the Dartmouth Skiway's lodge.
"One of the things that has been very important to the College is that furniture be made locally within a certain radius," Evans said.
The Grant provides the wood necessary for achieving the goal of using all Dartmouth lumber for projects, but its raw materials still must be processed before being made into furniture, something the College cannot independently manage.
As a result, raw logs from the Grant are shipped in round form to the Cherry Mountain lumber mill in Whitefield, N.H., where the wood is sawed into boards. From there, the wood is shipped to Caledonia Kilns in Lyndonville, Vt., where it is dried until usable for construction and making furniture. If the wood is slated for furniture, it is then sent to a furniture factory, such as Island Pond Woodworkers.
Repairing a broken economy
Island Pond, Vt., a town of approximately 1,200, experienced a serious economic crisis when the Ethan Allen furniture factory located there closed its doors two years ago, leaving 120 residents without jobs.
The shutdown had serious economic and social repercussions, as experienced furniture craftsmen suddenly found themselves without livelihoods.
Rather than allow the closing to destroy the town, the former Ethan Allen employees issued a statement declaring their interest in keeping the plant open as an employee-managed factory and continuing to produce furniture.
Will Hochstin, director of Materials Management at Dartmouth, learned of the workers' plight, and spoke with former College Vice President of Finance Win Johnson to determine if the College could assist Island Pond's efforts in any way.
A meeting was arranged between the woodworkers and various College divisions such as Facilities Operations and Management, the Office of Residential Life and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and it was decided "that all would do their best to work with [the woodworkers] as much as we could," Hochstin said.
Hochstin proposed that Island Pond receive the contract for the construction of new conference tables for Parkhurst Hall. The tables have since been completed and other types of furniture have been commissioned for various buildings on campus, including Dartmouth Hall and the Collis Center.
Island Pond Woodworkers has received contracts from other colleges in the area as well, including the University of Vermont, as well as a half-million dollar contract to make furniture for Middlebury College's library.
Dartmouth has been strongly committed to supporting the woodworkers since the beginning of their plight two years ago, administrators said. Both College President James Wright and Provost Barry Scherr have lent their support to the effort, and Hochstin said he is "hopeful that [the College] can continue doing business with them."
It is Dartmouth's intent to continue to support Island Pond through future furniture commissions, Hochstin added. The company holds an exclusive license to make furniture stamped with the Dartmouth seal, and hopes to mark furniture products made from Grant wood as well.
A strategic move
The Island Pond partnership was one Dartmouth entered into for several reasons. Economically, it makes sense for the College to support the economy in the surrounding area.
Evans described the College as both a manufacturer and a consumer, adding that "if it does not support [the economy] on both ends, buying and selling, we won't be able to practice the type of woodland management we want to because there won't be an industry to support."
The College works as a "corporate citizen" -- one has to be involved in what goes on around it, Evans added. "The College owns 40,000 acres in northern New Hampshire. It has managed this property and been part of the community for 196 years, and will be a part of it for a lot longer."
Hochstin, too, cited another reason for Dartmouth's interest in Island Pond: a genuine concern for the surrounding communities.
"People don't realize leaders at this college are committed to the environment and to helping folks," he said. "There was a group of people there that believed in themselves enough to mortgage their homes and start a business."
The partnership "helps everyone out," he added. "We all win because we're doing it together."
