Here in the United States and likely in many places afar beyond it as well, wood products and wood itself (of course) is incredibly useful and has many varied purposes. From sawmill products to hardwood flooring to the usages for slab lumber, the applications for wood are incredibly many. And there are many reasons that this is the case.
For one thing, wood is incredibly accessible here in the United States, where so much of the land is still dominated by forests of various sizes. From specialty wood products to more basic ones like wood slabs for sale, the creation of wood products is so sought after that nearly one million people are employed in the industry of United States forest products at the current date. This is a number that has only risen over the years, and one that continues to provide an important sum of money to our economy even as we know it today, here at the tail end of the year of 2018.
And there’s no doubt about it that wood is used widely all throughout our everyday lives, encompassing specialty wood products and even more. For instance, the use of wood is instrumental in most standard forms of construction seen today and the typical home here in the United States (the typical single family home, that is) will have had more than 13,000 board feet of lumber like whole log lumber (among other types of lumber too) used to construct it. As up to 95% of all single family homes in this country have used wood frames to support the home itself, it’s no shock then that the use of wood is so widespread.
Of course, wood products are used for the purposes of packaging as well. Pallets are particularly common for packaging purposes, making up the vast majority (around 90%, to be just a little more specific) of all wood packaging methods utilized in this country. The use of wood pallets is ideal for shipping larger object across the country, whether those object travel by train or – as is increasingly more common as the years pass by – by truck. The use of wood pallets, in fact, can even be a great way to safely transport a wide variety of specialty wood products from one end of the country to the next, especially when we consider the demand for specialty wood products that is so often a high one here in the United States.
Hardwood flooring is of course also widely popular here in the United States, perhaps one of the most popular specialty wood products around. In fact, when hardwood flooring is present all throughout a home, home owners are actually more likely to pay significantly more money for said home. Hardwood flooring, after all, can last for centuries upon centuries if it is cared for well and diligently.
But what about deforestation? With wood and specialty wood products and the like so prevalent in each and every one of our lives, should we be concerned about the matter of deforestation? The answer is both yes and no, as the United States holds more hardwood trees than most people actually even realize. In fact, even if no new trees were planted, harvesting could continue at the same rate here in the United States for as many as 75 years before all of the trees ran out. Of course, this is not a viable option, but it goes to show that the scope of trees in our country is a greater one than many anticipate when they are first considering the subject.
However, there are certainly a variety of ways in which we can reduce our environmental footprint and fight back against deforestation in the United States. For one thing, planting new trees is always helpful. However, the typical hardwood tree takes at least 20 years to fully reach maturity – and sometimes as many as 60 years – so this is not the only solution necessary. In addition to this, the use of reclaimed wood as your primary source of wood can end up making an impact.
