Combined, government agencies building New York City’s infrastructure make up the single largest end-user of tropical hardwoods in North America. For decades, the New York City Transit Authority, now a part of the state’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), has been using tropical hardwoods logged from West Africa’s rainforests for subway track ties.
Logging is the primary factor leading to tropical deforestation. The majority of the wood produced by companies doing first-time logging in primary rainforests is for export. Demand for tropical hardwoods in importing countries is driving the bulldozing of new roads into pristine rainforests and the heavy damage that takes place to get at the most valuable trees.
Logging in West Africa is the key factor in the increase in the trade of ‘bush meat’, which is devastating Africa’s endangered wildlife. Hunters working for loggers kill great apes, deer, pangolins and other animals and, using logging trucks, deliver them to buyers and restaurants in distant towns and cities. Logging is also causing the decimation of chimp populations as habitat disturbances cause a wave of territorial 'chimp wars' to reverberate into the forests surrounding the logging, as displaced chimps seek new areas.
There is simply no good reason to continue using rainforest wood for track ties, as recycled plastic lumber (RPL) can do a better job, lasts longer and is made from local, recycled materials (and thus creates jobs in the US). Chicago Transit Authority has installed over 100,000 recycled plastic ties. MTA 'tested' RPL years ago but has yet to make a shift.
MTA must immediately end their use of tropical hardwoods.
