Precious Woods Protests

[dawnstar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Day of Action Planned for October 26 to Target Stores Selling
     Old Growth Wood 

                                             RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK 

                                         For Immediate Release: October
25, 1999

                                      Contacts:  Mark Westlund: 
ranmedia@xxxxxxx 
                                             Michael Brune: 
mbrune@xxxxxxx 

                                                  Telephone:
415/398-4404 

     Now that The Home Depot has decided to stop selling old growth
wood, forest protection
     leaders with Rainforest Action Network and partner groups are
urging other home
     improvement companies to follow suit. On October 26, groups across
the country will be
     holding events in a Day of Action focused on the next five targets
in the old growth
     campaign: 84 Lumber, Home Base, Menard's, Payless Cashways, and
Wickes. The Day
     of Action is part of Rainforest Action Network's continuing
campaign to stigmatize old
     growth wood products, and stop the logging of the plant's last
remaining old growth
     forests. 

     RAN recently ran a full-page ad in the New York Times commending
Home Depot for
     deciding to phase out of old growth wood by the year 2002, and
urging other home
     improvement stores to do the same. In conjunction with the ad, RAN
added a feature to its
     homepage (www.ran.org) allowing visitors to vote for which home
improvement store RAN
     should target next. Visitors could also send a message to the
companies urging each to
     stop selling old growth wood. 

     The results of the vote showed that Home Base, with about 35%, is
the most desired
     target by supporters. 84 Lumber and Menard's have both received
about 25% of the vote,
     and Payless Cashways and Wickes are not far behind. 

     "Since the votes in deciding our next target are so close, we are
going to pressure all of
     the companies," said Rainforest Action Network Old Growth Campaign
Director Michael
     Brune. "Even though Home Depot has decided to phase out of selling
old growth products,
     many companies have still not gotten the message that it's no
longer acceptable to sell
     wood products made from old growth trees." 

     After a two-year grassroots campaign, The Home Depot, who is
currently the largest
     retailer of old growth wood products, has become part of the
growing number of
     companies that have chose to go old growth free. Other U.S.
corporations that have
     pledged to go old growth free include 3M, Dell, IBM, Kinko's,
Levi-Strauss, Mitsubishi
     Motors America, Mitsubishi Electric America, and Nike. 

     Old growth wood is found in forests that are the most endangered
forest areas on the
     planet; these forests have not yet been commercially logged. Nearly
40% of the old
     growth forests that still exist are in danger of being destroyed.
The trees in some old
     growth forests are over 2,000 years old. Around the world less than
twenty percent of
     these original old growth forests survive, and less than four
percent survive in the United
     States. 

        Old Growth Campaign 



     © Rainforest Action Network, 1999.