Environmental Information
HomeEnvironmental Information
Frame Hardwoods purchases all of our lumber from sources located on the North American continent and within 300 miles of our facility. All North American lumber is produced from forests that are carefully managed timberlands. We do not import raw material from foreign countries or engage in other in-effective or environmentally wasteful ocean and rail shipping practises that require transportation of raw material over 300 miles. Solid Hardwood flooring production and shipping from our facility is "Carbon-neutral", the lowest "Life Cycle" (LCA) cost of any flooring material, and the longest "in service" life expectancy of any other flooring covering material. A very comprehensive independent study completed in 2007 (University of Wisconsin at Madison WI.) of solid hardwood flooring, it's life cycle, and it's impact on our environment is available at the National Wood Flooring Associations web site: http://nwfa.org
Our milling and finish line facility is operated as a 100% "VOC free" production facility. We are located adjacent to a wetlands area and promote and protect it's natural condition. All of our finishes are “VOC free”, contain NO LEAD, formaldehyde, or any other chemicals or substances that have been determined to be harmful to animals or to humans. All bi-products are contained within protective storage structures with all hardwood chips and sawdust recycled into bio-fuel pellets that use baking soda for a bonding agent. These fuel pallets are sold throughout the United States through retail stores like Quality Farm & Fleet. Any potential hazardous waste is properly disposed of through licensed hazardous waste recycle companies. Lumber is brought to our facility using regional truck lines that must conform to US vehicle safety and emission standards. We do not utilize inefficient ocean transportation/dock /loading/rail transportation to obtain materials, not do we export materials from the US except into Canada. All of our empolyees are citizens of the United States and have recieved technical training on our equipment and it's safe and effecient use.
The entire Eastern US Forest region has been certified, by the US Forest Service, as a “Sustainable Yield Resource”. This forest region has a re-growth rate that exceeds 2.29 trees for every tree harvested. All of the raw material used in our facility originates from this region. Since all forest regions in the United States practice the same principals and are subject to the same laws and regulations for legal payment and lawful enforcement for timber procuement, manufacturing emissions, waste disposal, transportation emissions, water/stream run-off quality, employment and safety regulations, US producers exceed all international regulations or proposals for environmental sustainability. This close monitoring process insures that log harvest is controlled and limited to prevent soil erosion. Hardwood timberland in North America is treated as a renewable crop with only select trees being harvested. Transactions between landowners, logging companies and sawmills are all subject to local, state, and federal trade, commerce, and environmental laws. Very few trees under 18” in diameter are cut as the cost to transport this timber and the viable yields of raw material from them make them less than suitable for use. All states offer timber management surveys and consultation from Department of Natural Resource personnel, State University Forestry programs, Technical Research programs, National Forest Research laboratories, and independent foresters. We purchase large volumes of lumber from sawmills located in the State of Wisconsin. All 10 state forests and the majority of Wisconsin's county owned forests are dual certified under the Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI) and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Over 2 million acres of of non-industrial private lands are certified under the American Tree Farm System , with an additional 494,000 acres of industrial forest land inrolled in both SFI and FSC programs.
By 1900, forests in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana had beed "cut over" with a goal of agricultural useage for the land. Today, a majority of those forest areas have been restored to their original state with forests in Michigan growing at a rate exceeding 3 trees per tree harvested. All forest lands within the area we obtain lumber have been proven a Sustainable Forest Resource by the volume of regrowth achieved in less than a century. Between 1950 and 2006, the amount of hardwood timber in the Eastern US has doubled. The Hardwood Federation and the American Hardwood Export Council are working closely and in complete cooperation with Green Peace, The Sierra Club and other proactive environmental groups to promote legal sales of timber and recognized environmentally sound harvest of natural resources. The House of Representitives and a Senate subcommittee have added The Lacey Act to the Farm Bill. The Lacey Act prohibits importation of illegally harvested timber or products from illegally harvested timber and should have some impact on the vast quantities of illegally harvested timber products being imported into the US and sold through home center chains at unfair cost.
FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) has been a 15-20 year process that was designed to try and bring foreign manufacturers into alignment with conservation groups and international concern with wildlife habitat destruction and theft of timber from private and government owner land in 2nd and 3rd world countries. US producers and manufacturers had already surpassed the intent of these initiatives and propsals during the 1990’s through Local, State, and Federal EPA requirements. 99% of all hardwood timber that is harvested in North America originates from thousands of individual private wood parcels making it impossible for logs to be sorted or tracked once they have entered the effecient processing for lumber. The additioanl costs involved to add a layer of inspection needed to meet independant FSC inspection and verification has is not possible with US Log production. Sawmills owners and manufactureres are unable to add the additional costs required to add FSC certification.
Manufacturers in other countries, specifically Chinese countries continue to blatantly disregarded not only these initiatives, but continue flagrant violations of international laws concerning harvest, transportation and legal payment for property. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/31/AR2007033101287_2.html is a link to an article from the Washington Post concerning these practices. FSC initiatives finally passed in 2006-2007 allow a broad interpretation of these guidelines as well as geographic and geo-political disparities in requirements making enforcement of these initiatives more of a political process that encourages loopholes and regional decisions over the original intent. Fraudlant labeling and misleading marketing of "GREEN" claims make most certifications of products from foreign countries suspect.
Bamboo flooring has been promoted and sold to US consumers as a “GREEN” and environmentally friendly product. The article link supplied will shed some light on this flooring and the practices used to fool American consumers about bamboo: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/09/bamboo_flooring.php. Please read this article and apply common sense with non-democratially selected governement businesses, large sources of low cost materials, and greed.
