The U.S. motor home industry prides itself on making its vehicles on American soil. But it relies on a crucial import: tropical plywood from Indonesia.
There is no viable alternative to this wood, which is known as lauan, the industry has long argued. Now its need for lauan, conservation groups say, has led to rainforests being razed in parts of Indonesia, tainting the industry’s supply chains with deforested timber.
Thor Industries, which makes Jayco brand R.V.s, said it was not aware of any deforested wood in its supply chain. Winnebago referred questions about the origins of its lauan to its supplier, Patrick Industries, an American company, and the R.V. Industry Association, neither of which responded to requests for comment. Nor did Forest River, another big R.V. company.
Last year, tens of thousands of trees were felled in Indonesia to supply R.V. construction in the United States, according to Earthsight, a British nonprofit that tracks timber supply chains.
Here’s what you need to know.
Why does the R.V. industry rely on trees from Southeast Asia?
In the 1940s and 1950s, the Philippines was the main source of tropical wood imported by the United States. After massive deforestation in the Philippines, large-scale logging moved to Thailand and Malaysia, and eventually to Indonesia.
The post What to Know About R.V.s and Deforested Wood appeared first on New York Times.
