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I feel that a lot of concern about replacing wood is misplaced or fails to properly differentiate between different species of wood harvested in different locat
by village-idiot 8y ago
I feel that a lot of concern about replacing wood is misplaced or fails to properly differentiate between different species of wood harvested in different locations.
America has a mix of forests for nature preservation, recreation, and lumber production. The latter are very well managed, with loggers very careful to replace all the trees they remove with saplings so their sons and daughters have something to harvest in 50 years. The total result is that the number of US trees has doubled in 70 years, and were actually back up to 2/3 of the estimated 1600s tree count. I personally have no qualms about consuming American harvested hardwood, because I know that it’s part of a successful forestry program that’s planting more trees than it takes.
Now the one place the above doesn’t apply are South American and African hardwoods, which are currently not super well managed. So feel free to enjoy your Oak or Cherry floors, but maybe pass on the Mahogany and Teak.
- Loughla 8y agoWhat part of the states do you live in? Lumber in the three states in my area is harvested in a completely unsustainable manner. Loggers will purchase the rights to log from farmers, and clear-cut every single piece of whatever is popular at the moment (black walnut right now, Ash and Maple in the 90's). No plan to replant, other than if nature itself makes a recovery.
- village-idiot 8y agoCalifornia. Sure, there are bad actors occasionally that need to be clamped down on. But it's hard to argue on the whole that the US' forest management isn't a massive success based on the stats from above.
- OldHand2018 8y agoAre you in the southeast US? A generation ago, so many investors planted trees that it's all but worthless now once you consider the costs of bringing the lumber to market. I imagine that a lot of people just want to liquidate their holdings and get whatever money they can back.
- village-idiot 8y agoEither way, current estimates are that we're consuming about 42% of the lumber that's growing per year. I'm personally ok with this.