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& bath design center, door & window showroom, and Fund Control office. The facility, with more than 70 employees, marks Dixieline's first retail location in the Inland Empire. The Pro-Build division's two lumber operations in Riverside and Colton serve local construction firms.

"We think Murrieta is a great area to be in," said spokesperson Ellen Dorph. "There's a high proportion of homeowners and we cater to homeowners and do-it-yourselfers."

U.S. Forestland Growing

The U.S. is covered by 750 million acres of forestland, an amount that has remained essentially unchanged over the past 100 years, according to a new study by the Society of American Foresters.

The nation's forestland. in fact. has increased by more than 10 million acres over the past 20 years.

Replanting, reforestation and natural forest re-growth on abandoned agricultural lands has generally offset any loss of forestland during the 2oth century due to urban/suburban growth. Technological advances have made farming more efficient, vastly reducing the amount of land needed to produce food, thereby allowing forestland to regenerate, the report found.

While the report noted that America's forests face significant challenges-such as fire, insects and disease, invasive weeds, unmanaged recreation, and land conversions-it documents a variety of reasons to be optimistic:

. Annual net growth of U.S. forests is 367o higher than the volume of annual tree removals.

Sustainable forest management is contributing to carbon sequestration and storage.

. The stability and abundance of forestland has helped wild turkey, elk and other endangered species make full recoveries.

. Historical trends indicate that the standing inventory (volume of growing trees) of hardwood and softwood tree species in U.S. forests increased by 49Vo between 1953 and2oo6.

. Certification of sustainable forest management continues to increase every year. The three major U.S. systems (SFI, FSC, ATFS) together certify more than 107 million acres, representing l4qo of total U.S. forests and 257o of private forestland.

"The State of America's Forests" report can be viewed at www.safnet. org/aboutforestry/index.cfm.