Wildwood WIll Use Black Locust! Instead of Rainforest Wood

November 27, 2007

	Black locust decking

BIG VICTORY FOR RAINFORESTS!!!

WILDWOOD, NEW JERSEY — In an article in the Press of Atlantic CIty, the mayor of Wildwood, NJ has announced plans to use black locust — a domestic wood — for upcoming boardwalk renovations.

As our original story states, Wildwood had gone out to bid on a large boardwalk renovation project in August of 2006. That project called for the use of ipê, logged from the pristine Amazon rainforests of Brazil.

Rainforest Relief, along with member of Ocean City, NJ-based Friends of the Rainforest, opposed the use of tropical woods for the project, attending city commission meetings and meeting with representatives of the city.

Rainforest Relief called for the use of recycled plastic lumber or, barring that, domestic black locust, an extremely durable domestic species logged from second- and third-growth woods in the Northeast US

Black locust is so durable that it has been planted in Europe since the late 1600s and is now planted extensively in Asia, especially Korea. In the US, black locust has been used for shipbuilding, telegraph pole pins, wooden wheel hubs and other applications where extreme hardness and durability are needed. For fenceposts, black locust has been known to last in contact with the ground — untreated — for as long as 90 years. Seventy years is not unusual. Typically, ipê used for boardwalks is replaced in thirty years or less.

Rainforest Relief fought for a year to convince Wildwood to try black locust. We delivered samples, which the city used to conduct their own 'burn' test. Afterward, they stated that the black locust and ipê seemed to burn about the same.

The original project we were fighting was put on hold, first to re-bid to include a stipulation for certified wood (but the new bid language was inadequate even for that). Later, one of the contractors bidding on the job sued the low bidder. That large project is now on hold until 2008.

Meanwhile, the city has announced plans to redo the decking of two blocks of boardwalk and stated they will use black locust. This is a major victory and the culmination of 5 years of work by Rainforest Relief promoting this species as an alternative to tropical woods used by New York City and other towns.

Please support Rainforest Relief with a donation today so we can continue to eliminate the demand for imported rainforest woods and spare Earth's dwindling rainforests from the chainsaws.