Sustainable Wood Flooring
Posted: June 7, 2018
Trees are our breathing partners. You may not live in a forest, but you need trees in order to live. People and animals depend on trees and plants for oxygen. As you breathe in, your body uses oxygen. As you breathe out, it gives off carbon dioxide. Trees do just the opposite. They take in Carbon Dioxide and then release oxygen (which also helps clean theair).
Trees also help cool the Earth. Trees give off moisture. More moisture in the air means more rain and all living things need water. Trees cool the air by shading and through water evaporation. They act like huge pumps to cycle water up from the soil back into the air. The 200,000 leaves on a healthy 100 foot tree can take 11,000 gallons of water from the soil and breathe it into the air in a single growing season.
Trees are also very important for us as a renewable resource. Trees are a natural resource that can be renewed – by the planting of trees – replacing the trees that are harvested for use by people. We depend on forest products for things like the wood we burn for heat and the wood we use to make houses and furniture. We use trees for the paper to make books and letters we write. Actually, there are more than 5,000 things made from trees. Trees give us baseball bats, shoe polish, and even tooth paste that comes from tree extracts.
Today, the people and companies that manage our nation’s forests recognize that trees are a valuable resource and that it is in the best interest of each of us to conserve them. The idea of sustainable forestry means trying to keep things in balance – when trees are cut down to make paper and other products, new trees are planted or regrow naturally. Forests helps wildlife by providing them food and a home. Trees and forests help us by cleaning our air, soil, and water – and provide a place for you to camp and hike! So you can help the world by planting atree.
Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI Certified Wood)
100% of our Douglas Fir flooring is sourced from SFI Certified Wood.
The SFI program is committed to continuously improve responsible forest management. SFI Program Participants must meet or exceed applicable water quality laws and regulations, with measures to manage and protect water wetlands and riparian zones on certified lands. They must continually evaluate habitat and biodiversity impacts from forest activities – which leads to improved habitat quality, and protection of imperiled or critically imperiled species.
SFI Program Participants must comply with the comprehensive forestry laws that apply to them in the United States and Canada, and practice responsible forestry on their certified lands.
The SFI program is committed to improving the practice of forestry on all forestlands in North America, whether boreal forests or plantation forests, whether naturally regenerated or planted. Its philosophy is that healthy, productive forests yield immense environmental, social and economic benefits, and mitigate the impacts of climate change by absorbing and storing carbon in trees, soil andbiomass.
The SFI 2015-2019 Forest Management Standard includes a new objective to recognize and respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights. This objective reflects existing SFI forest management requirements regarding respect for Aboriginal and Tribal rights and values on public lands, but now has enhanced provisions for private lands.
In the introduction to the SFI 2015-2019 Standards and Rules, SFI recognizes and adopts the principles outlined in the United Nations Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. SFI Program Participants are encouraged to communicate and collaborate with local Aboriginal and Tribal groups in order to better understand their traditional practices with respect to forest management.