AHEC website aims to show just how fast American forests replenished harvested hardwoods

A new website claims to demonstrate the sustainability of American hardwood timber by showing just how fast it grows back to replace harvested wood.

Grown in Seconds was launched by the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) and is supported by the environmental consultancy ThinkStep.

The site makes use of data gathered by the US Forest Service to track the annual growth and harvest rates of every hardwood species. This data is then used to calculate how quickly wood used in projects can be regrown within the forests of the United States.

“This new website, illustrating how quickly American hardwood can grow and regenerate, and the effect of the manufacturing process on the overall environmental impact of the piece, will further reinforce the argument that American hardwoods are a highly sustainable material,” said a spokesperson.

“Around a third of the United States is forested and nearly half of this resource is devoted to growing and harvesting hardwood. These forests are so vast and trees felled so selectively that the timber that is cut down, dried, milled and machined to make furniture, buildings or products is replaced by natural regrowth within a matter of seconds.

“In many cases, the annual growth rate of the hardwoods in the American forest g far outweighs the harvest rate; just 40% of the American cherry which naturally regrows each year is harvested.”

The Grown In Seconds site can be accessed at www.growninseconds.org