Quite. The temptation is that those rain forest giants represent a significant one-time windfall; this is what led to the unsustainable forestry practices that

Quite. The temptation is that those rain forest giants represent a significant one-time windfall; this is what led to the unsustainable forestry practices that denuded most of England of its forests and nearly did it in for the US. International agreements like CITES, if memory serves, regulate and in some cases outright prohibit certain forms of lumber (the most notorious examples are Brazilian rosewood and Cuban mahogany, both of which were tremendously important hardwoods a century ago and are nearly extinct now), and efforts like FSC certification seem to be helping things out somewhat--one can actually buy lignum vitae now, relatively cheaply for an exotic. But I imagine we still have a long way to go.