Sustaining Our Forests, Protecting Our Future

The future is now. With a global population of more the 6 billion people pushing our way to an estimated 10 billion in 2050, this saying invokes more urgency than ever. The promise of nearly 60 percent more people on our planet means we must begin planning today how we will provide for their needs. Fortunately, one of the most vital resources needed for our future is also one of the most abundant -- trees.

Because trees are both versatile and renewable, they provide a never-ending source for products that fulfill basic needs like housing, food and clothing, and for products that make our lives healthier, easier and more enjoyable. Trees are used to make thousands of items that touch our lives everyday. Wood and paper are the most well-known examples, but trees are also used to make everything from fabrics and pharmaceuticals to toothpaste and garden hoses.

It's a common myth that we are running out of trees, but in fact there are more acres of forestland in the United States today than at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. This is due in great part to the practice of sustainable forestry by the forest products industry. Under a program called the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFIsm), forestry companies operate using a comprehensive system of principles, guidelines and performance standards that balance the perpetual growing and harvesting of trees with environmental protection and conservation. More simply, forest products companies are working with nature to make sure forests are thriving and healthy for future generations.

International Paper is the nation's largest private landowner and seedling grower, planting more than 500 million seedlings a year. Like our fellow members of the American Forest & Paper Association, we adhere strictly to the SFI standards. For example, we regenerate every acre harvested within two years by replanting or in five years by managed natural reforestation. This is accomplished while integrating the needs of wildlife, including endangered species, into day-to-day forestry best practices and through specific resource and habitat conservation initiatives. Using state-of-the-art research and forestry techniques, our highly trained professional foresters make conservation and protection of wildlife, plants, soil, water and air quality a routine part of their jobs.

The forest products industry has set aside the third Sunday of October each year for National Forest Products Week to remind us that in a world where finite resources will become increasingly scarce, trees from sustainably managed forests will continue to be a renewable resource. A renewable resource for more and better products that meet our needs and enhance our lives.