About Me
Edie brings over twenty-five years of experience and connections developing sustainable forestry strategies and policies at the state, regional, national and international level. She has a Ph.D. in forestry from the University of Washington, specializing in forest carbon accounting and life cycle assessment, and a B.S. in biology from Yale University. As founder and principal of Three Trees Consulting, she works across all parts of the forest sector, from nonprofits working with small landowners to large companies and associations to government, in the US and internationally. Her ongoing work involves leading forest sector carbon data transparency initiatives, conducting climate impact and carbon footprint assessments, advancing carbon reporting and carbon offset protocols, and delivering presentations on sustainable forestry and biogenic carbon. She has authored numerous reports and publications on topics such as land carbon accounting, forest carbon, and the global warming mitigation potential of wood products. Edie’s expertise spans across academic, industry, and policy domains, making her a well-rounded authority in the field of biogenic carbon accounting and forest resource management.
Her comprehensive experience spans the Northeast, Southern, and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States, providing her with a nuanced understanding of the variations in forest ecosystems, markets, and policies across these areas. In addition to her professional and academic accomplishments, Edie is actively engaged in forestry practices as a family tree farmer in South Carolina. Edie’s north star is harnessing the power of trees to provide sustainable solutions for a growing population. She lives in Seattle with her husband, three children, dog, and chickens.
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Edie Sonne Hall, PhD
140 Lakeside AVE, Ste A #146, Seattle, WA 98122 | 425 830-3772 | edieshall@outlook.com
Over 25 years in forestry, with expertise in carbon accounting, ecosystem services, life cycle assessment, certification, and environmental and sustainability policy across local, federal and international domains, working with the largest landowners in the world through to family farm forest organizations.
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Experience
Founder and Principal | three trees consulting | 2018-present
Hand-picked for the most challenging and important carbon and environmental forestry issues that require bridging the gaps between science, policy, and management. Provide expertise in areas of forest carbon accounting, ecosystem services, green buildings, life cycle assessment, and sustainable forest certification. Have completed projects that scale from one month to multiple years. Highlights include:
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Serve as information strategy lead for US Endowment’s Forest to Frame projects, which aims to provide current, consistent forest and wood product carbon data across the forest sector value chain.
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Advise state and national forestry associations on potential climate legislations/policies.
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Chair the North American Wood Product Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Coordination Group, which brings together wood LCA experts, wood building advocates, associations, and academics to better coordinate and efficiently produce and communicate wood product LCAs.
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Active participant in numerous LCA and biogenic carbon accounting standards committees, including:
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UNEP Biogenic Carbon Technical Advisory Committee member (2023-present)
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GHG Protocol Land Sector Guidance Technical Working Group member (2020-present)
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US ISO Tag 207 Working Group 5 member (2008-2017)
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Technical committee on the revision of the North American Structural and Architectural Wood Product Category Rule V2 (to development Environmental Product Declarations) member (2015)
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GHG Protocol’s Product Lifecycle Reporting Standard contributor (2011)
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GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Technical Working Group member (2011)
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Serve as science consultant for the American Forest Foundation, working on the Family Forest Carbon Program, https://forestfoundation.org/carbon, a project aimed to incent carbon-positive practices on small family forests by reducing measuring and monitoring costs through programmatic sampling. Work on their Scope 3 discovery pilot project in partnership with Verra as well as the development of a new Tool for Calculating Long-Term Carbon Storage in Harvested Wood Products - Verra, which can be applicable across AFOLU methodologies.
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Conduct climate impact and carbon footprint assessments for individual forest management companies.
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Author of several reports and journal articles, including:
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Prisley, S. and E. Sonne Hall. 2023. Calculating a Land Carbon Accounting Factor in the United States: an Example and Implications. Journal of Forestry. Calculating a Land Carbon Accounting Factor in the United States: an Example and Implications | Journal of Forestry | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
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Sonne Hall, Edie. 2022. Mobilizing Women in Forestry to Save the World. Special Section on the Women’s Forest Congress in Forest History Today. Vol 1/2: 72-75. FHT_2022_Hall_The_Future_Mobilizing_Women.pdf (foresthistory.org)
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The Forests Dialogue. 2022. Current State of Mass Timber and Wood Product Value Chains in Europe: Background Paper Prepared for TFD’s Climate Positive Forest Products Scoping Dialogue in Finland. TFD, New Haven, CT, USA (co-author with Barbara Reck).
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The Forests Dialogue. 2021. Climate Benefits and Challenges Related to “Mass Timber” Construction: From Frame to Forest. TFD, New Haven, CT. (Author)
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OFRI. 2020. Carbon in Oregon’s Managed Forests: Science Review on Carbon, Managed Forests and Wood Products. Mike Cloughesy and Edie Sonne Hall, Technical Editors. https://oregonforests.org/pub/carbon-oregons-managed-forests-science-review
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Sonne Hall. 2020. How to Calculate the Carbon Footprint of a Building. Thinkwood CEU. https://www.thinkwood.com/education/calculate-wood-carbon-footprint
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Ganguly, I., F. Pierobon, and E. Sonne Hall. 2020. Global Warming Mitigation Potential of Wood Products from Washington State’s Private Forests. Forests, 11(2), https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/11/2/194
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Sonne Hall. 2020. The Past, Present and Future of Forest Carbon. Western Forester. Vol 65(4). https://forestry.org/sites/default/files/westernforester/WFOctNovDec2020color.pdf.
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Manager, Environmental Affairs | Weyerhaeuser | 2005-2017
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Oversaw policy related to Weyerhaeuser timberlands and manufacturing in climate change, biomass sustainability, life cycle assessment and carbon footprint, ecosystem services, and overall corporate sustainability while working closely with Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (ENGOS), industry, and government agencies.
Wood Quality Lab Coordinator | International Paper | 1997-1999
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Managed the wood quality lab at International Paper’s Southlands Experiment Forest. Work included field work (maintaining test sites and collecting core samples), lab work (x-ray densitometers, pulping digesters), statistics, and lab reports.
Education
Ph.D. Forest Resources | 2005 | University of Washington
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Dissertation: Life Cycle Assessment of Pacific Northwest Forestry Operations from Seedling Production to Harvesting- Implications for Forest Management. Specialty in forest carbon accounting.
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Graduate Certificate: Interdisciplinary and Policy Dimensions of Earth Science.
M.S. Forest resources| 2001 | University of Washington
B.S. Biology | 1997 | Yale University
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Captain, Varsity Squash team; 1997 All-American and All-Ivy
Awards, Honors, Certifications, Select Presentations
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Society of American Forester’s National Policy Committee: 2021-2023
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Women's Forest Congress Tree Note Speaker, The Future of Women in Forestry, 2022
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Starker Lecture Series Lecturer, 2022
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2017 and 2018 Hagenstein Emerging Leader Fellow
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American Tree Farm System Certified Inspector, 2018-present
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Future Leaders Program, World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD): Participated in 8-month sustainability training program with 20 other colleagues from global member companies, 2012
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President’s Award, Weyerhaeuser: For developing Weyerhaeuser’s first wetland mitigation banks, 2007
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President, Board of Directors, Parent Trust for Washington State Children, 2011-2014