Raul’s Blog

This article is shared courtesy of ARA Content.

How A Forest Products Company is Making a Real Environmental Impact

Little Raulito enjoying a Forever Redwood Kid's Rocking Chair. Behind him stands a Large Vase Planter. Proceeds from the sale of Forever Redwood products go toward our Redwood forest restoration work.

(ARA) - With the growing popularity of green building practices, more companies are incorporating environmental and sustainability policies. These are all positive steps toward reducing the impact of global warming and caring for our earth. But what do you really know about a product you buy that is labeled green? Is it really environmentally friendly, or is it just a marketing scheme? And how much of a difference is it actually making?

“Green and sustainable forestry practices are a step in the right direction. But even the most stringent standards, those certified internationally by the Forest Stewardship Council, are only a modest step away from the large-scale deforestation practices that were prevalent until recently,” says Raul Hernandez, founder of Old-Growth Again, an organization dedicated to restoring logged forestlands back to their ancient form.

Hernandez goes on to explain the problem is sustainable forestry does little in the way of restoring large and ancient trees overtime. Without these trees as a significant portion of working forests, the effects forestlands can have on global cooling are limited. Under sustainable forestry practices, lands are cut at rates of up to 30 percent per decade. At this rate of cut, a forest is “sustained,” but it’s maintained as a young forest in perpetuity with trees rarely exceeding 80 years of age.

OGA is changing this by practicing a much higher “Restoration Forestry” standard. Restoration forestry involves many practices including limiting the rate of cut to a maximum of 10 percent in any one decade. This conservative rate allows for a growth increase of standing lumber at rates of approximately 20 percent per decade, allowing the forest to mature so that a large amount of the forest canopy will once again be dominated by trees over 200 years old (the definition of old-growth).

Why is this important? “Depending on the tree species and geography, forests managed on a 200-year cycle sequester 3 to 4 times more carbon per acre than forests managed on 60 to 80 year cycles,” says Hernandez. “Restoration forestry practiced on a global scale would cause dramatic global cooling to take place while growing the highest quality lumber.”

Rainbow over Forest Redwood forestlands in Annapolis, CA—lands we are restoring through your furniture purchases

How can you help? With the nice weather, more people are spending time outside enjoying their yards. If you are looking to add some new furniture and decor, consider Forever Redwood, OGA’s thick-timber products, which help fund the organization’s mission. Add some new lawn furniture, a gazebo or pergola, a swing or just some planter boxes. The look and design of the products is a throwback to another era when lumber was plentiful and of extremely high quality.

Besides supporting a good cause, redwood products are very long lasting and can be left outdoors for decades in elements such as harsh sun and snow, without maintenance. You can choose from three grades of redwood for Forever Redwood products — young, mature and old-growth. Half of the lumber used is from salvaged material left on the forest floor when the forest was first logged in the 40s and 50s. This wood is carefully inspected, and because of its high quality, much of it is in great shape and can be used, a testament to the longevity of the old-growth lumber. The other half comes from careful harvesting of the forest.

“One of the biggest aspects of global warming is deforestation. If forest lands are managed so they sequester carbon as they did before the high levels of harvesting, a big part of global warming equation would be eliminated,” says Hernandez.

To learn more about Forever Redwood furniture and products, and how old-growth forests are helping counteract global warming, visit www.ForeverRedwood.com.

Courtesy of ARA Content

Once a week or so, I’ll post questions and answers taken from email exchanges with OGA customers. I hope this will help inform other customers, as they plan their Forever Redwood furniture purchases. Please let me know if you have any questions about our furniture. You can leave a comment on this blog or contact me directly.

A customer asks:

We prefer not to stain or finish the furniture so it will weather.
Is it still “forever” furniture or will it deteriorate?
If it will deteriorate, how long do you estimate it will last?

We are interested in the four-foot octagonal table with attached seats.

Thanks,
[customer]
Flagler Beach, FL

My response:

Thank you for your email. We over build our furniture so it will really last. If you don’t seal or stain it, it will last just as long. It just won’t be as pretty. It will dry out relatively quickly and silver in just a couple months. It will still last for decades.

If you seal it, it will fade over a couple years (the surface color) and will dry out slowly. You’ll still get the weathered look, only gradually. I recommend the sealant. Plus, we do it at no extra cost.

But, either way, it is forever. The wood will not decay. Now, if your puppy decides to chew it up, then it will not be forever….

We hear this question often.  Its a great question and an interesting story.

Teak is now the most widely used outdoor wood in the U.S. with a well deserved reputation for durability in any outdoor weather. It’s an excellent choice for outdoor furniture or structures if you want it to last.

Teak sold in the U.S. is almost exclusively plantation grown in Central and South America. These plantations grow teak in rows and harvest in 20 to 40 year rotations in most cases. The highest quality teak plantations have 60 to 80 year rotations, but they are a very small minority. Teak is marketed as a “sustainably harvested” alternative to exotic woods taken from rain forests. The teak industry is large and spends millions annually to market this enviromental angle. It’s part truth, part fiction.

The truth is teak does take pressure off the native forests as a source of good quality wood. The fiction is a significant percentage of these plantations are grown on lands that were once forests. And, teak tree farms are not native to the Americas. They replace native biologically diverse lands with monoculture that provides minimal habitat for any type of wildlife.

So, it’s a mixed bag with the teak.  Better than logging the Amazon, but not ideal.

What about Redwood?  Well, Redwood was the outdoor wood of choice in the U.S. for most of the 20th century. Like teak, it is a beautiful wood with an excellent reputation for outdoor durability. It was available nationwide and used for anything outdoors until the early 1990’s. But, the Redwoods were overlogged and in 1990’s lumber production collapsed to 1/3rd the levels of prior decades. Redwood mostly disappeared from the east coast and central states.

Today, Redwood is available mostly in California and some other western states. The overall quality has dropped because the average size of trees being harvested is smaller than in prior decades.

In 1995, Old-Growth Again purchased and began to restore its Redwood forestland. We offer Redwood in 3 grades to distinguish it from the what is on the market today. Redwood, our least expensive grade, has a 12-year decay warranty and is comparable to what is mostly available on the market. Our Mature Redwood, our most popular grade, has a 20-year decay warranty and is comparable in durability to the highest grades of teak. And, our highest grade, the reclaimed Old-Growth Redwood, has a 30-year decay warranty. It exceeds the climate durability of any plantation grown teak.

It takes centuries of slow growth to make lumber that is almost decay proof.  Only a natural forest can do that. We don’t harvest old-growth Redwood. Luckily many logs were left on the forest floor in the early to mid 1900’s to keep our furniture shop busy for many years. Yes, the logs sat on the forest floor for 50 to 100 years and are still in excellent shape!

Case closed: If you want the longest lasting wood available - go with Old-Growth Redwood.  If you want to help restore native, biologically diverse forests and save money, have your outdoor furniture made from Redwood or Mature Redwood.

To read more about our forestry practices, please go to:

http://www.oldgrowthagain.org/sustainable.html

To read more about our three grades of Redwood, please go to:

http://www.oldgrowthagain.org/wood.html

As always, comments and questions are welcomed.  Thank you for your continuing support.