RESTON, VA.—Kentucky’s Tygarts State Forest in Carter County is growing new woodlands, thanks to a major treeplanting joint project by Armstrong and the Hardwood Forestry Fund (HFF).

Beginning last month, teams from the Kentucky Division of Forestry began planting 35,000 hardwood trees at Tygarts, expanding the forests woodland by 51 acres on former grazing land acquired by the state in 2006. The plantings are a variety of hardwood species including white oak, Northern red oak, Southern red oak, black oak, black cherry and walnut.

The 800-acre Tygarts State Forest was selected for this major tree-planting project because of its ability to expand woodlands and its educational outreach program for loggers, landowners and schoolchildren. Also, one of Armstrong’s 10 wood flooring plants is located in Somerset, Pulaski County.

“Thanks to the support of Armstrong, we have the ability to revert agricultural land contiguous to Tygarts to forestland and expand wildlife habitat and healthy woodland,” said Barbara McClendon, HFF’s administrator. “This planting creates more diversity of hardwood species and helps ensure an abundance of native tree species. The HFF is delighted to bring together the forest products industry with natural resource agencies to establish forests for the future.”

Frank Ready, president/CEO of Armstrong Floor Products, added, “At Armstrong, we are committed to protecting forests and promoting responsible forest management practices. Our partnership with HFF is one way we put our commitment into action.”

The Tygarts planting is one of four reforestation projects conducted by HFF and Armstrong that will plant more than 500,000 hardwood trees (species include Northern red oak, Southern red oak, white oak, black cherry, black walnut and shagbark hickory) on U.S. public land in spring 2008. Other locations are Devils Lake State Park, Baraboo, Wis. (40 acres); Salamonie River State Forest, Huntington and Wabash Counties, Ind. (69 acres), and Kumbrabow State Forest, Huttonsville, W.Va. (40 acres).

“These projects were selected based on proximity to Armstrong facilities or target species regeneration,” McClendon said. “Projects selected by the HFF are located on public forest land, have a strong educational element for students and private landowners, are appropriate for planting and/or management, require oversight by a professional forester and have a sustainable management plan. HFF’s board selected 16 projects to fund in 2008—Armstrong adopted four of these projects.”

Other HFF contributors from the floor covering industry include: Anderson Hardwood Floors, Appalachian Engineered Floors, Mannington Wood Floors, Sheoga Hardwood Flooring & Paneling and Indiana Hardwood Specialists. Armstrong and Columbia Forest Products are HFF’s leading contributors, McClendon said. “Most contributors make general support donations. That way, we can direct funding to any project that is in need. On occasion, a company will specify geographic location or target species, and we work closely with them to apply their funding to specific projects.”

For more information, please call the Hardwood Forestry Fund at 703.503.1155.