We have a strong commitment to the preservation and protection of the forests which supply our raw materials. We hold accreditations in FSC, PEFC, SFI and several other environmental organizations. We are in the process of obtaining a Environmental Product Declaration for all veneer species produced in our plant through a Life Cycle Assessment. Our production process is zero waste – we only use ground well-water and electricity to make veneer. We safely burn all of our wood waste as biomass in compliance with the EPA wood burning emissions standards. We recycle all of our production plastics and metals to keep our environmental footprint at a minimum.
By purchasing our trees and logs from private landowners and government owned properties that hire state-certified foresters to mark mature trees for harvest, we are preserving our forests by leaving the smaller trees for further growth and future generations.
Through selective harvesting, America’s hardwood forests have been able to regenerate more trees than are harvested. Most trees we use today come from third or fourth-cut hardwood stands, allowing the temperate hardwoods of North America to regenerate to full mature age within one human lifetime. Only mature trees at the end of their life cycle are viable for veneer manufacturing – young trees do not yield a fine veneer product. For every one hundred trees in the forest, only about seven of them are suitable for veneer quality. In a time when timber regulations are becoming much more stringent, we pride ourselves on carrying a solid inventory of certified veneer and lumber.
Responsible utilization of timber mandates that we be productive in our manufacturing processes to produce high yields from our raw material. For years, M. Bohlke Veneer has invested, developed and patented the latest technology to produce the most out of logs. From our knife grinder to our patented vacuum flitch beds, we have been able to increase our yield. A sharper and stronger knife edge has allowed us to slice our veneer with greater consistency in thickness. Our vacuum bed has enabled us to reduce discarded material and increase our yield by an additional 10-15% of the log. These, along with many other continued advances in our manufacturing technologies, have allowed us to make the most out of our natural resource.
We acknowledge that we have a underlying duty to give back to the environment that provides us with such a valuable resource. With that in mind, we are passionate about supporting and assisting in the process of forest management and sustainable forest harvesting worldwide.
