The nation's home builders are now squarely in the Rainforest Action Network's cross hairs.

The San Francisco-based environmental group wants builders to stop using old growth wood in their houses, and if its success with similar campaigns targeted at the home improvement business is any indication, Western Red Cedar shingles, Hemlock decks, Douglas Fir studs, Mahogany and Luan doors and Redwood siding could soon be a thing of the past.

Five of the country's most recognizable home improvement chains -- Home Depot, Lowe's, Wickes, Menard's and HomeBase -- have committed to go "old growth free" by ceasing to sell old growth wood products.

Kaufman & Broad, the big Los Angeles-based builder, has done the same. And now RAN says its is going after Centex, the large Houston-based building company.

The U.S. home building industry is the largest consumer of wood products in the world, accounting for almost 72 percent of all the lumber used in this country. American builders, which RAN, in its latest propaganda, calls "rainforest butchers," import lumber from all over the world, including endangered woods from the Amazon and tropical hardwoods from Southeast Asia.

"Industrial logging is devastating the habitat of the majority of the Earth's planet and animal species and displacing thousands of indigenous people around the world," says the group the Wall Street Journal has called "the most savvy environmental agitators in the business."

"This destruction is fueled in large part by the demand for old growth wood products created by the home building industry. Ironically, by building our own homes out of old growth wood, we are leaving others homeless."

What can builders expect from RAN? Here's some of the tactics used by the environmental group to force Home Depot to capitulate:

Published: June 26, 2000

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When Lew Sichelman first started writing about housing in 1969, he was the youngest real estate writer in the country. Now, 37 years later, he's one of the oldest -- and most decorated. He has been rated the top housing columnist in the country by the National Association of Realtors as well as by his peers in the National Association of Real Estate Editors. Indeed, NAREE has recognized his work on numerous occasions. One year - due to his advancing age, he can't recall which one - he earned top honors in the annual NAREE Journalism Contest in three out of the four major writing categories. It was the first time one writer has won so many NAREE awards in a single year. Known for his ability to make even the most difficult topics understandable, Sichelman also has been honored by the National Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association. He began providing in-depth coverage of and consumer-oriented information about housing and housing finance at the Washington Daily News, where he was real estate editor. He held that same position for nine more years at the Washington Star, which purchased the News in 1972. The Star, a so-called "writer's newspaper" which also had the misfortune of being an evening paper, was put out of its misery in 1981, and Sichelman, who had begun self-syndicating his column in 1978, decided to become a full-time columnist. Today, his column, "The Housing Scene," is distributed by United Media to newspapers throughout the country. He also is on the staff of National Mortgage News, an independent newspaper which is considered the bible of the mortgage business. And he writes for numerous other publications, including MarketWatch.com, where he answers readers questions once a week, Sports Illustrated (don't ask), RealtyTimes.com, BigBuilder and others. Sichelman is married, the father of five and grandfather of eleven.