Rainforest Relief has learned that the city of Santa Monica, California, has installed dozens of benches made with ipê, violated their own 1991 law that bars the city from purchasing tropical hardwoods.

Recently, David Wolfberg, Rainforest Relief Los Angeles chapter director, discovered the benches. Tim Keating, RR's director, confirmed that the benches are ipê, a wood logged from the Amazon rainforests of Brazil, mostly illegally (for more on illegal logging in Brazil, click here).

We found that the benches were manufactured by Landscape Forms, a Michigan company. On Landscape Forms’ website they state that they are “chain-of-custody” certified by the Rainforest Alliance SmartWood™ program. However, this certification can be confusing to the public, leading people to believe that all the wood the company sells is certified, which isn't the case.

Rainforest Relief is working on a report to expose this situation.

Dave is working on follow-up with Santa Monica to strengthen their law and educate the town’s officials.

To help, click here.