Partnership with Arbor Day Foundation
Reclaimed Lumber Products proudly announces a partnership by supporting Arbor Day Foundation. As a corporate partner our support will help the general fund and good causes such as distributing millions of trees around the world, improve air and water quality, conservation education, alleviate hunger and poverty, and target reforestation in ecosystems that need it the most. Our donation makes a difference worldwide from helping wetlands in the Mississippi River Valley to forests in Zambia. Trees improve the quality of life for other plants, animals and humans. They just make sense as in investment with long term dividends such as energy savings in urban environments, food source in developing countries, habitat in the forest, and a renewable resource that stores carbon.
This common sense approach to being good stewards of our planet matches with Reclaimed Lumber Products (RLP) philosophy. RLP believes in taking action where the return on the investments makes sense. Planting a tree that will continue to grow and benefit its surroundings is the kind of long term thinking that we like. Currently in this world there are a lot of political differences related to environmental causes. Some seem to be emotion based rather than proven science or common sense. RLP believes in sustainable action whether it relates to the raw materials we use in manufacturing or the way we invest and spend our resources. We also believe that we can take an active role contributing to the environment. For example we believe that forestry does not need to be a hands off approach where humans can not benefit or help the natural flora and fauna. Our controversial opinion means that we believe in practices such as responsible logging with selective thinning and replanting is better than doing nothing and leaving a forest to age unhealthy or repeatable burn. It is sad to see valuable timber resources blacken sky with smoke when instead they could have been harvested as a sustainable resource to make lumber for housing or toilet paper which everybody uses no matter which side of the political argument they stand. Using natural resources closer to home makes more sense.
Even though RLP primarily uses recycled lumber for their millwork we support common sense sustainable harvest of natural resources. We would rather see wood products made from the best quality renewable product that used the least amount of carbon resources whether it was virgin material or reclaimed. We believe that our reclaimed product has character and quality that differentiates it from other options, but we do not hold out that it is the only option. Our goal is to provide value to the customer because of the unique quality we provide. This ties into our support for Arbor Day Foundation. Planting trees is the most efficient carbon offset strategy, and it provides multiple other benefits such as soil stabilization, improved air and water quality, flora and fauna habitat, or job creation.
The owner and founder of RLP has always had a soft spot in his heart for trees. If he wasn't running a millwork company, he would probably be out planting trees. There is a lot of satisfaction watching a tree grow and climb into the sky. The fruit from a home grown orchard just seems to taste sweeter. Similar passions can be stirred when we harvest our own lumber to make a custom piece of furniture or door with a story behind it. If we take timber from a historic barn that has fallen down, we can pass on that memory. One could also be proud of growing their own tree plantation to saw their own lumber. Thirty years later, the memories of child are still vivid of getting a pack of 10 trees from Arbor Day Foundation and rushing out to plant them. Later as a teenager, the owner of RLP started a nursery business. This early venture into capitalism, small business, and love for watching plants grow helped pay for college and international travel expenses. Besides the obvious immediate profits from selling and planting trees in those early years; the long term gains from the experience and education as an individual to today having mature, living trees still contributing to the planets health continues to pay dividends.
Go outside, get a little dirty, dig a hole, and plant a tree. While you are at it, grab a kid, plant a seed in their spirit by showing them the beauty of nature.
