“Wood, the natural choice”

Everyday choices matter for healthy forests and trees. Protect forests; reforest, recycle, and conserve. Buy wood, the natural choice, instead of plastic. Here are Five ways to choose forests and trees:

Choose to Become a Better Forest Steward

Several excellent guides are available to help landowners sustainably manage their forests and tree resources. The Woods in Your Backyard is a self-assessment guide for owners of up to ten acres of land.

Choose the Right Tree for the Right Place

When planting new trees, select species and sizes appropriate to the soil and sunlight conditions where you want to plant, and be mindful of overhead utility wires, underground wires and pipes, and proximity to sidewalks. See our Growing Home Campaign page for information on good tree species for urban areas. Before digging, call Miss Utility at 1-800-257-7777.

Choose to Recycle (be a “two-timer”!)

Recycle and re-use wood and wood-based products when possible before disposing of them. Most copy paper used in the U.S. today comes from foreign forests, so conserve paper by using the back of copy paper for printing drafts or for scrap paper.

Choose Wood Over Plastic

Wood is the natural choice for many products increasingly being made from plastic, a non-renewable material made from petroleum products. Support your local (non-tropical) wood industry and help put America on a petroleum diet. Simple actions include choosing paper grocery bags instead of plastic, purchasing tools with wooden handles, or augmenting home heating with efficient wood stoves.

Choose Trees to Offset Your Generation of Carbon

We all need to heat our homes and most of us use vehicles, but you can off-set the carbon generated by these combustion sources to some extent by planting trees. Use the American Forests’ easy Climate Calculator to determine how much carbon your lifestyle generates and the number of trees you would need to plant each year to be carbon neutral.

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Revised October 17, 2007