Home Depot's suppliers seem to be happy with the decision. We want to create the demand for certified wood. Home Depot has outwardly encouraged other lumber retailers to follow their lead and some companies in the home improvement industry have already begun their own changes. Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, one of America's largest retailers with nearly 500 stores in 26 states, also has plans to change their lumber policy to phase out old-growth wood, possibly beginning a plan by the first part of 2000. Rainforest Action Network protested The Home Depot's sales of old-growth wood products in Atlanta.
Different groups have different definitions for old growth.
Old-growth wood comes from forests that have never before been logged commercially and are the most endangered forests on the planet. The giant trees in some ancient forests are 2,000 years old. Less than 20 percent of these forests remain on Earth and less than four percent in the U.S. remain today.