More than 90% of the original ancient forests in the US -- including many which were supposedly being held in trust by the US Government -- have been completely decimated. Now, rather than being content with harvesting from the "factory-forests" they have created (in which hardly any wild species can survive and which are prone to disease and epidemics) timber companies are after the last 10% of the old-growth forests, which are much more profitable (i.e. less labor intensive) to take the trees from. This profitability is further enhanced by the money the government spends building roads for the benefit of the timber companies. Logging roads in the National Forests are already 8 times the length of our Interstate Highway system, and the timber lobby continues to benefit from taxpayer subsidies for building even more roads. Short-term greed is the only reason to cut any more from ancient forests in the US. The Sierra Club has enlisted the support of 800 lumber retailers around the country -- including national companies such as Home Base, Hechinger's, and Wick's Lumber -- who have pledged not to purchase products from ancient forests.