Instead, it's hauled to the landfill as wood waste scraps. This and other building techniques, if adopted by residential builders nationwide, would eliminate the demand to cut hundreds of thousands of acres of forest every year. In addition, these material-saving techniques often save builders money and time. Sustainable forestry practices can ease the pressure on our forests. The Menominee Indians of Wisconsin have cut 2 billion board feet of timber from their forest over the past 135 years while protecting its health and maintaining the diversity of native species.
Forest certification lets consumers know when wood comes from responsibly managed forests.
As of early 1997, over 60 certificates, representing seven million acres of forest land worldwide, had been issued by certifiers accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council, a group that oversees the certification process. Reducing the amount of wood used and wasted in homebuilding can help save our forests. As the earth's population grows dramatically, so does the demand for wood products, which is already threatening forests all over the world. Global wood consumption is expected to double over the next three decades. Although the U.S. accounts for only five percent of the world's population, Americans use approximately twenty-seven percent of the wood commercially harvested worldwide, and U.S. wood consumption is also expected to grow dramatically in coming years.