The use of tropical hardwoods for municipal boardwalks across the US has increased dramatically in the last 15 years, driving the demand for key species logged from rainforests from South America to Africa.

Coastal boardwalks are very public facilities and have thus been targeted by importers of tropical hardwood for years. After 40 years of marketing to boardwalks, ipê has become a wood of choice for outdoor applications such as marinas, piers and benches.

Ipê is now the largest single timber export out of the Brazilian Amazon and the demand is driving illegal and unsustainable logging throughout the Amazon.

Rainforest Relief has lead the charge in the US to prevent the use of old growth and unsustainable rainforests woods for boardwalks from New York to California to Florida. We've stopped the use of more rainforest wood for boardwalks than any group in history. See our Successes for more information on our campaigns in Ocean City, Wildwood, Ventnor and Asbury Park, NJ; Greenport, NY; Long Beach, CA and East Lyme, CT.

Click the links to the right or below to find out about individual campaigns to stop the use of rainforest wood for boardwalks across the US.