Our suppliers consider wood as the basis for the activities. Therefore, they take both a commercial and a social interest in preserving the woods in a manner so as to leave wood for future generations as well. Their objective is to trade wood and wood products based on a sustainable production.

Over the last 50 years the inventory of hardwoods standing in US forests increased by more than 90% as harvesting levels remained well below the level of growth. The US hardwood inventory now stands at 10,000 million m3 and is growing at a rate of more than 200 million m3 per year (before harvesting), despite high levels of domestic hardwood consumption in the US and record exports.

American, African, and European hardwoods derive from managed natural forests, which have high natural bio-diversity, provide a habitat for a wide range of species, and are very resilient to fire and pests. The RPA Assessment indicates that overall hardwood forests are getting older in the States and that this maturation is leading to increased ecosystem diversity.

Fertile forest soils and favorable growing conditions in the US mean that hardwood forests are most effectively renewed through natural regeneration. Selection harvesting, involving the removal of specified individuals or small groups of trees, is typical in American hardwood forests, which offer a greater diversity of timber species than any other temperate hardwood forest resource. At a time when there is a trend towards relatively uniform plantation woods in many other parts of the world, American hardwoods continue to offer all the variety and decorative advantages of natural forest woods.