Indonesia, a Southeast Asian country with a land area of 788,430 square miles (three times the size of Texas), has 10 percent of the world's tropical rain forests, reports Wood, a Meredith magazine. These 350 million forest acres contain an estimated 4,000 tree species, of which about 50 are harvested and made into hardwood and softwood plywood by Indonesia's forest products industry. For instance, Indonesian plywood, made from a species named meranti, is widely available in the United States.

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In the lush, rain-forest habitat, the growth rate of some trees exceeds 10 feet a year, and harvested areas quickly regenerate. That doesn't mean, though, that whole forests are destroyed and left to hopefully grow again. The Indonesian government has permanently set aside 75 million acres of rain forest as areas closed to all commercial and public use. Another 47 million acres are protected as conservation areas, but open to the public.The government allows timber harvesting in the remaining rain forest, but carefully regulates it. In fact, loggers may only fell two or three trees per acre. Then, harvesting isn't permitted for 35 years! Loggers also pay a fee based on timber volume that funds reforestation. In this way, the people of Indonesia feel that their share of the world's rain forest will last forever.

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