Wood is an environmentally friendly choice for a number of reasons: It is recyclable, biodegradable and naturally renewable.

Companies, individuals and non-profit organizations work every day to ensure our forests are healthy and productive, and these efforts are paying off. According to the latest statistics from the USDA Forest Service, America’s forests are on the rise. Today there are some 750 million acres of forests nationwide—about the same as 100 years ago.

These are benefits retailers and their customers can feel good about when purchasing hardwood floors. We already know that wood flooring is a worthy design addition to any home, adding warmth, natural beauty and value. Wood is extremely durable and normally lasts the lifetime of the home with minimal disposal impacts. It does not emit appreciable levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs); it has far lower VOC levels than most carpeting.

It is important to remember, too, that engineered and thinner solid products, like 5/16-inch solid hardwood floors, generally use only a fraction of the raw materials that are traditionally required for 3/4-inch solid hardwood floors, making them an outstanding, environmentally friendly option.

All of these qualities—combined with the reality that hardwood floors are shown to increase a home’s resale value—make hardwood a win/win all around.

Armstrong and forest management

As the world’s largest hardwood flooring company, Armstrong has a vested interest in protecting the forests where its raw materials originate. The company’s strategy requires that it protects the communities where it extracts, processes and manufactures its wood products. Armstrong’s goal is to support sustainable forest management practices globally, including planting trees to replenish what it harvests.

Hardwood Forestry Fund

During 2008, in partnership with the Hardwood Forestry Fund (HFF), Armstrong funded tree planting and forest regeneration projects as part of its Forest Management Sustainability Initiative. It planted hardwood species including red oak, white oak, black cherry, walnut, maple and birch at Tygarts State Forest in Carter County, Ky., near the company’s hardwood floor manufacturing facility in Somerset, Ky.; Devil’s Lake State Park in Wisconsin, and Salamonie River State Forest in Indiana. It supported a major black cherry regeneration project at Kumbrabow State Forest in West Virginia, near its hardwood floor manufacturing facility in Beverly. By regenerating areas that have been damaged or over-forested, Armstrong hopes to improve wildlife habitat and promote soil and water conservation.

Efforts like these translate into a great sales benefit for retailers. There’s an intrinsic advantage for dealers to focus on selling domestically grown hardwoods to the consumer. Domestically grown hardwood has no known issues with illegal harvesting or logging and, if you buy flooring made in the U.S., there is less fuel and energy expended to transport the product hundreds, if not thousands of miles. For all these reasons, and the consistent quality of domestic raw materials, Armstrong uses predominately domestically grown hardwoods.

Forest Stewardship Council

Armstrong’s Vicksburg, Miss., engineered hardwood manufacturing facility has been awarded Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) chain of custody certification through the SmartWood Program of the Rainforest Alliance. This first-step certification opens the door for Vicksburg to produce FSC-certified products. One of the primary products produced in the Vicksburg plant is Bruce Westchester Plank, a 3/4-inch engineered plank that offers the overall thickness of a solid floor in an engineered structure while providing the benefit of increased dimensional stability.

Tropical Forest Foundation

Ninety-five percent of Armstrong’s lumber comes from U.S. forests managed by landowners and producers. For the 5% of wood purchases that come from tropical forests, Armstrong requires its wood suppliers adhere to all applicable laws and regulations, including those covering raw materials. Put simply, Armstrong doesn’t purchase raw materials that have been illegally harvested or illegally logged.

Armstrong partners with the Tropical Forest Foundation (TFF) on exotics to promote responsible forest management and to establish chain-of-custody management systems with offshore suppliers. TFF is a conservation foundation that trains and verifies sustainable and legal logging practices with a focus in South America, central Africa and Indonesia. By working with TFF, Armstrong helps to ensure its wood flooring products meet the highest standards of sustainable forest management. In addition, Armstrong and TFF work together to identify ways that the tropical timber companies with which Armstrong suppliers do business can use Reduced Impact Logging, an internationally recognized system to minimize the ecological impact of logging and ensure healthy forests.

Armstrong’s Responsible Forest Management Policy also requires efficient use of wood and wood products; programs to support our Exotic Wood Purchasing Policy; verification that no species on the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) list are used in any product; training and outreach programs on sustainable forest management practices, and a transparent program subject to internal auditing and independent verification.

Trees are some of the oldest living things on our planet. They are essential to our ecology. They use CO2 and release oxygen, prevent erosion, provide habitat for wildlife and give us beauty. The health and productivity of the world’s forests depend on industry and private individuals. It’s up to all of us to manage our forest resources responsibly.