Hickman Lumber was FSC Certified in 1999; however long-term, sustainable timber management has always been important to Larry Hickman.
Larry has a lifetime’s worth of knowledge that cannot be learned from reading a book. He has hours and hours over his 80+ years of life that he has observed mother nature at work. He understands that treating the forest like a garden will help mother nature grow healthier forests. Healthier for the environment and his business.
Hickman Lumber was FSC Certified in 1999 and they were the first sawmill to be FSC certified through Smartwood, now Preferred by Nature. Proper timber management was nothing new for the Hickman Family but with the certification, they had the 3rd party annual audit for additional verification that they were doing it right.
Here are some numbers to help understand the timber management results for one of our FSC Certified Properties.
We offer World-Class, Northern Appalachian, 100% FSC Certified Hardwood Lumber & Veneer Logs for your Wood Product Manufacturing
UNDERSTANDING THESE NUMBERS: It’s truly remarkable. WORKING FORESTS WORK!
This property was clear-cut in the 1950s. The standing timber inventory in 1989, before the salvage cut was 716,930 Board Feet (bf). In 28 Years this forest has been harvested 4 times, removing OVER 500,000 Board Feet (bf) of timber and in 2021 we have over 1 Million Board Feet of standing timber!
Why is cutting down trees good for the environment?
First of all, trees don’t live forever. The useful life of a hardwood tree in PA varies with species and environment, but it is anywhere from 60 – 120 years until the tree has a greater risk of dying from various stressors; disease, insects, climate changes, etc. Harvesting these trees at their prime, like any other agricultural crop, will allow the wood from the tree to have additional life as a beautiful, useful product. Second of all, these wood products will store carbon. Remember, if the tree dies naturally or burns the carbon is released back into the atmosphere. If old trees are left in the forest, they are still storing carbon, but the overall rate of carbon sequestration of the forest decreases. Then you also risk the old trees dying without being utilized. Therefore, delaying harvest will increase the chances of wasted wood, you won’t store the carbon, and you’ll lose time that younger trees could have been quickly absorbing carbon as they rapidly grow.