Redwoods

Redwood Forests Certified for Sustainable Harvests

Four of every five acres of commercial redwood forest are now independently certified as well managed and harvested on a sustainable basis. The major redwood lumber mills and landowners have completed independent third-party certification of their redwood forestlands.

As a result, over 1 million acres, approximately 80 percent of the available redwood commercial forest are certified under one of the two most widely recognized certification programs: Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFISM) program.

There are 1.74 million acres of Coastal Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests on California’s north coast. About 26 percent, or 450,000 acres of these forests are preserved in national, state and municipal parks, national monuments and other administratively withdrawn lands where harvesting is prohibited.

Certification Programs

Of the remaining 1.29 million acres where harvesting can take place, approximately 1.03 million acres (80 percent) are currently being well managed according to independent third-party certification programs.

These voluntary third-party certification programs are in addition to the mandatory requirements of California’s Forest Practices Act, recognized as the most thorough timber harvesting regulation in North America. Section 913 of the Forest Practices Act requires that any company owning commercial forests greater than 50,000 acres prepare a Sustained Yield Plan.

These plans must project an equal balance of growth and harvest over a 100 year period while ensuring sustainability of all forest resources, including wildlife, watershed and soil.

Forest certification provides consumers with assurance that the redwood products they purchase have been harvested in an environmentally sound manner. The basic tenants of certification programs include:

Our Redwood

We have a selection of full dimension Redwood lumber and redwood timbers. It is a beautiful, warm, durable and versatile building material. It is less likely to split, warp, cup or check so it will last longer than other woods. Redwood has a rich color and it hold paints and stains well. Redwood is also an all natural, renewable resource.

Primarily we custom mill to order, but we have a unique product. We have perfected HEART CENTER REDWOOD BEAMS that are stronger for timber frames. Out of the Woods is a favorite among the builders as we handle all of our wood carefully, picking it up either by hand or with straps and without metal.

Milled Locally by Out of the Woods

Works Cited

U.S. Forest Service Inventory and Analysis, Pacific Northwest Forest Range and Experiment Station, Portland Oregon reporting 1,244,000 acres with a plurality of redwood trees and another 496,000 acres with redwood present. (See also Fox III, Lawrence,“A Classification, Map and Volume Estimate for the Coast Redwood of California,” 1988, revised Oct. 1989, Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif., with California Department of Forestry; reporting a plurality of redwoods on 1,663,000 acres and occurring on another 287,000 acres.)

Solinsky, Frank and Dean, Consulting Foresters, Trinidad, “Acreage and Volume of Coast Redwood Timber in Public Ownership In California”, Sept., 1990. (More recently withdrawn acreage added.)

Forest Stewardship Council, www.fscoax.org. American Forest & Paper Association’s Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFISM) Program,
www.afandpa.org/forestry/sfi or www.aboutsfi.org.