McIlvain Lumber: Sustainable, Legal, Affordable

The J. Gibson McIlvain Company has been providing wholesale exotic and domestic lumber to companies throughout the United States since 1798. They even supply wood to the White House! Three descriptions of McIlvain lumber include the following: sustainable, legal and affordable.

Sustainable

Sustainability begins in the forest. It would be easy to see a stand of trees and just cut them down for profit, assuming that more trees will grow. This has been the sad outlook for some forests throughout history. Now there are organizations such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and The Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) to help tiny seeds grow into happy trees.

The FSC is a global organization which J. Gibson McIlvain relies on to ensure the local forest is environmentally appropriate while also supplying opportunity to the community. “Environmentally appropriate” refers to the health of the forest. The trees are happy because they are growing in a home with all the things they need: other species of trees, a thriving animal community and plenty of nutrient rich soil. The FSC makes sure all of this is facilitated by the local human communities, thus creating opportunities for the people.

J. Gibson McIlvain also looks to CITES for the correct management of species. For example, Spanish Cedar lumber may be in high demand but it is in CITES Appendix III. This means that the country of origin has requested CITES regulate the worldwide trade of that species. Appendix II has species that are not endangered but may become so if not carefully monitored, and Appendix I holds endangered species that are banned commercially but allowed for scientific use. This regulation of the species guarantees a future for the trees and J. Gibson McIlvain.

Legal

While all that sustainability is well and good, how about legality? Just because a shipment of Spanish Cedar lumber is CITES certified does not mean it is completely compliant with all local and US law. J. Gibson McIlvain will not allow flaws in their product, legal or otherwise. To make sure of this they turn to Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS), an independent auditor hired to provide oversight. SGS provides the Timber Legality and Traceability Verification (TLTV) that allows J. Gibson McIlvain to be absolutely certain the lumber is legal. The TLTV picks up from the FSC where the tree grew through the logging process through exportation and delivery. Along the way, the lumber goes through Verification of Legal Origin (VLO) and Verification of Legal Compliance (VLC) to make sure that the local and international laws were followed. All of this documentation allows J. Gibson McIlvain to show you the trail from the forest to your project.

Affordable

All of that extra checking does go into the price eventually put on each piece of lumber. But with J. Gibson McIlvain, there is no need to worry about over pricing because they are an Importer of Record. They account for every piece of hardwood lumber they sell. Instead of a local lumberyard where countless people have handled the product, (complicated and possibly undocumented), McIlvain lumber is direct from the stump to you.

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