Facts about the use of wood? We hear every day the rumours about the cutting down of our forests and the effects it has on our environment - well things have changed, we are actually planting more and more trees than ever before!

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Facts

  • Net forest growth in the United States exceeds harvest by 37 percent.

  • In the United States, a combination of improved forest management, increased fire protection, and advances in wood science and technology has allowed forest growth to surpass removals even as harvest volumes have increased.
     
  • The forests of the United States now contain 170 million cubic feet more volume than they did just 40 years ago. That incremental increase is equal to 10 years of average annual use.
     
  • Hardwood net growing volume in the United States increased 82 percent between 1952 and 1992.

 

Consider This:

  • Wood blinds and shutters have a charm and a feel that works with nature. It is bringing the feeling of the environment back into the house.
     
  • Consumers appreciate the quality look of wood blinds.
     
  • Wood blinds are higher priced, higher margin items that appeal to upscale consumers.
     
  • Many homeowners do not mind investing a little more for the real thing.
    Consumers invest in wood blinds and shutters much like a furniture purchase.
     
  • The price-value relationship has replaced price alone as foremost in the minds of today's consumers.
     
  • Wood blinds and shutters outlast most other types of window treatments.
     
  • Wood blinds do not bend.
     
  • Wood slats are easier to clean than thinner aluminium slats.
     
  • Wood blinds and shutters come from a renewable resource.
     
  • Wood blinds and shutters are biodegradable.
     
  • Wood has a greater strength-to-weight ratio in its natural form than any other product ever developed.
     
  • One of the hottest trends in window blind styles is horizontal wood blinds.
     
  • Natural wood blinds look good in most rooms without having to be colour matched to the rest of the room.
     
  • The shutter look is fuelling some of the growth in wood blinds. The wider the slats get on the window blinds, the more they look like shutters. The more they look like shutters, the more they remind consumers of their parent's homes. People are returning to things that remind them of the past.
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More Facts

  • The current area of U.S. forests is 67 percent of what it was 500 years ago, i.e., in 1492 when Columbus landed in the Bahamas and this continent was undeveloped. Comparisons of late 19th century photographs to those recently taken from the same photo points, commonly record substantial increases in the overstock volume of forest vegetation over the last century. In addition, open woodlands have become closed forests and grasslands have become woodlands.
     
  • There has been a one percent loss in forested area in the U.S. since 1970, most of which can be traced to the growth of urban areas and infrastructure development, not on increased wood consumption.
     
  • On abandoned land, holding back the development of a forest is a greater problem than making one grow.
     
  • Nationally, standing timber volume per acre in U.S. forests is 33 percent greater than in 1952.
     
  • Per capita consumption of wood in the U.S. in 1900 was 144 cubic feet per year, but had declined to 78 cubic feet per year in 1994. This was due in part to less use of firewood, fencing and railroad ties.
     
  • Harvesting mature and over mature trees is natural. Forests grow through sequential stages. It begins with the initiation of a stand and ends with old growth. Nature never lets forests stay in any one stage forever. There is a continuous cycle of growth, decline, death, decay and renewal.
     
  • Speeding up the rate of cutting on some over mature stands may be justified for it is a fact that fire, insects and decay consume as much timber as man.
     
  • Plastics, aluminium, steel and concrete are frequently mentioned as substitutes for wood, and it is assumed that increasing use of these products will help protect forests. But wood is the only natural resource on earth that is renewable, recyclable, biodegradable and reusable.
     
  • Although wood accounts for 47 percent of all primary industrial raw material consumed in the U.S., solid wood manufacturing processes for lumber and plywood consumes only four percent of all energy consumed in the manufacture of primary industrial raw materials.
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