ECO-FRIENDLY APPALACHIAN LUMBER

Preserving our environment and our Natural Resources

Environmentally Sensitive Harvesting

Through an innovative project currently operated by the CLINCH POWELL Sustainable Development Initiative much of the Appalachian hardwood lumber used in creating our unique Arts and Crafts is logged in a time-honored fashion.

Rather than clear-cutting the woodlands, less invasive logging-trails serve as the means of extracting our individually felled trees.

By preserving our forests and by minimizing the amount of exposed soil, the highly damaging erosion usually found in clear-cut lands is reduced to a bare minimum. These individual trees are removed from the forest borne on horse-drawn skids. By not clear-cutting, not only are our area forestlands preserved, but the soil run-off is also minimized, thereby preserving our area streams from damaging pollution.

The horse drawn logs are brought to rural sawmills where they are ripped to manageable thicknesses.

The planks are then carefully dried in solar kilns which use solar energy to reduce the wood moisture to usable levels. The often costly and polluting use of fossil fuel energy is thus avoided.

We are participating in a cooperative effort to add value to our local timber by making these environmentally sensitive woods available to area Artists, Artisan's, and Crafters. We are helping to reduce the exportation of our precious natural resources to other countries by allowing local businesses to have affordable, renewable access to this lumber. And this time-honored industry is providing jobs to local residents.

Another feature of this wood-harvesting process is the constant commitment to reforestation. Conscientious planting of replacement trees is carried out while judicious removal of trees takes place.

Recycled Hardwoods

Another source of local hardwoods is older buildings which are being demolished, gutted or remodelled. We are constantly searching for hardwoods which can be salvaged and recycled from these turn-of-the-century structures. Once cleaned up, these precious commodities can be reused in the creation of new Arts and Crafts. The natural beauty of these woods shines through with a new life in our quality products.

For more information about the CLINCH POWELL Sustainable Development Initiative write to:

P.O. Box 791, Abingdon, VA 24210
or call- (540)623-1121

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