Print Grows Trees

Does crop farming grow trees? Does raising cattle grow trees? Does urban sprawl grow trees? The only commercial use of land that grows trees is managing forest land for use as paper and wood products. That's what the website“Print Grows Trees”says.

The website is part of an educational campaign by PGAMA that uses facts to show that print on paper actually helps to grow trees and keep our forests from being sold for development. By connecting the dots between print and the private landowners who own almost 60 percent of U.S. woodlands, “Print Grows Trees” challenges the widely held belief that by using less paper, trees will be saved.

"Deforestation is a complex and critical problem, with no easy answers. Printed paper is taking a lot of the blame in the public’s mind for this act. We are told to “Think before you print” in order to save trees and shown pictures of clear-cut forests that break our hearts and anger us. But when we see a pasture with grazing cows, a field with new-mown hay or endless acres of corn, we think it is beautiful. The fact is that those beautiful scenes were once forests. Between 1850 and 1910, we lost about a third of our forests – about 190 million acres. When you fly across the Midwest, it’s the most evident. That’s where most of it was converted to agricultural land – when Americans cleared more forest than the total amount cleared in the previous 250 years of settlement. The fact is that when landowners have a financial incentive, they will grow more trees to replace the ones they cut down and even where there currently are no trees."

According to The World Business Council for Sustainable Development, The Sustainable Forest Products Industry, Carbon and Climate Change: "By providing a market for wood, the forest products industry gives forest owners an incentive to keep land as forest as opposed to converting it to other uses that provide few or no watershed or carbon benefits."

To find out more, visit Print Grows Trees. Leave a comment telling us why you choose print and you could win one of five t-shirts featuring the printgrowstrees logo.