The forest products industry does more than just plant and harvest trees. As foresters, wood products companies follow rigorous standards and forest practices to protect the trees, soil, air, water and wildlife. As a result, there is significantly more wildlife in western forests than found by Louis & Clark when they made their trek across our country. And, forest growth in the U.S. has exceeded harvest continually since the 1940s. The U.S. forest inventory has actually increased by over 39 percent since 1952.
The U.S. is the leader in reforestation, planting roughly 2 billion new trees each year. The forest products industry is responsible for 41 percent of all replanted forest acreage. Thanks to these efforts there are 10 million more acres of forestland in the U.S. today than there were 15 years ago. Forest certification is one way to demonstrate the sustainability of wood products. Much of the North American lumber made today is produced from forestlands using sustainable standards that are audited by independent third parties and recognized worldwide. The “Sustainable Forestry Initiative" (SFI) program is the largest certifier of lumber and wood products in North America, covering an estimated 150 million acres of timberland in the U.S. and Canada. SFI is a comprehensive system of principles, objectives and performance measures developed by professional foresters, conservationists and scientists, among others that combines the perpetual growing and harvesting of trees with the long-term protection of wildlife, plants and water quality. Pan Abode endorses and utilizes wood from SFI Certified forests.