Puerto Rico Hardwoods
Building a sustainable wood economy on a small island.
Puerto Rico Hardwoods (PRH) was founded in 2015 with a simple but ambitious vision: to transform Puerto Rico’s overlooked and discarded wood resources into a valuable local industry. At a time when enormous quantities of usable timber were routinely chipped, burned, buried, or sent to landfills, PRH set out to demonstrate that the island’s trees represented not a waste problem, but an economic, environmental, and cultural opportunity. Over the past decade, the company has become a leading advocate for wood recovery, sustainable utilization, and the development of a modern tropical hardwood industry rooted in local resources and ecological responsibility.
The origins of Puerto Rico Hardwoods can be traced back to decades of work in sustainable forestry and ecological restoration at Las Casas de la Selva, the rainforest enrichment project established by the Institute of Ecotechnics in 1983 in the mountains of southeastern Puerto Rico. For more than thirty years, researchers, foresters, and conservationists working at Las Casas explored how tropical forests could be managed sustainably while maintaining biodiversity, protecting watersheds, and generating economic value. Those experiences revealed an important contradiction: while Puerto Rico imported more than $100 million worth of wood products annually, (USDA Forest Service Southern Forest Experiment Station New Orleans, Luisiana Research Paper SO-201 December, 1983), vast quantities of valuable local timber were being discarded every year.
This realization became increasingly apparent to forestry advocates Thrity “3t” Vakil and Andrés Rúa González. Both had spent years working in forestry, conservation, environmental education, and sustainable land management. In 2013, they helped establish the Agroforestry Development Advisory Council (CADA), a coalition dedicated to addressing the widespread waste of wood resources across Puerto Rico. Through discussions with municipalities, government agencies, arborists, landowners, and environmental organizations, a consistent pattern emerged. Trees removed from roadsides, parks, construction sites, utility corridors, and urban landscapes were almost always treated as waste regardless of their species, size, or value.
The problem was not a lack of wood. The problem was the absence of infrastructure, markets, equipment, and public awareness needed to recover and utilize it.
Research conducted through the Tropic Ventures Research & Education Foundation helped strengthen this understanding. In 2011, the foundation received support from the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources to investigate the island’s forest products sector. The project contributed to the development of Nuestra Madera, a comprehensive initiative documenting Puerto Rico’s timber species, traditional woodworking knowledge, and forest product potential. This effort helped establish a foundation of knowledge that would later support the creation of Puerto Rico Hardwoods.
When Puerto Rico Hardwoods was formally established in 2015, its mission extended beyond simply selling lumber. The company sought to create an entirely new model for wood utilization on the island. Rather than relying on imported timber harvested thousands of miles away, PRH focused on recovering trees already growing in Puerto Rico. These included storm-damaged trees, urban removals, utility-line clearances, agricultural conversions, infrastructure projects, and sustainably managed forestry operations.
One of the company’s earliest landmark projects involved the recovery of twenty-three Puerto Rican Mahogany Hybrid trees (Swietenia × aubrevilleana) near the Arroyo Municipal Cemetery. With appropriate permits and oversight, the trees were salvaged and converted into 20,000 board feet of usable lumber rather than being discarded. The project demonstrated that even trees removed for public works projects could retain significant ecological, historical, and economic value.
Mahogany tree destined for landfill, Arroyo 2015
The importance of Puerto Rico Hardwoods became dramatically evident following Hurricane María in September 2017. María was among the most devastating natural disasters in Puerto Rico’s modern history. Millions of trees were damaged or destroyed, forests were heavily altered, and enormous quantities of vegetative debris accumulated across the island. In the months and years that followed, much of this material was chipped, burned, or buried in landfills. Yet among the debris were valuable tropical hardwoods including mahogany, teak, mahoe, saman, almond, pterocarpus, guanacaste, and numerous other species.
Different species of hurricane-fallen wood at the PRH woodyard in Caguas, PR, 2017
For Puerto Rico Hardwoods, María represented both a tragedy and a challenge. The company worked to demonstrate that disaster recovery could include resource recovery. Instead of viewing fallen trees solely as waste, PRH advocated for their conversion into lumber, furniture stock, architectural material, artisan wood, and other value-added products. This approach highlighted a broader principle that continues to guide the company today: responsible utilization of local resources can contribute to both environmental stewardship and economic resilience.
Over the years, PRH developed its operations in Caguas into one of Puerto Rico’s most significant wood recovery and processing facilities. The woodyard became a center for log storage, milling, drying, inventory management, education, and public outreach. Through investments in sawmills, drying systems, material handling equipment, and solar energy infrastructure, the company steadily expanded its capacity to process local hardwoods.
Federal and local support played an important role in this growth. A USDA Wood Innovation Grant helped support the acquisition of advanced milling and drying equipment designed to increase the production of responsibly sourced tropical hardwood lumber. Additional support from Puerto Rico’s Department of Economic Development and Commerce, renewable energy initiatives, and disaster recovery programs enabled the purchase of tractors, solar infrastructure, and heavy equipment needed to handle large logs safely and efficiently. These investments strengthened the company’s ability to build a sustainable supply chain based on local resources.
Yet Puerto Rico Hardwoods has always viewed itself as more than a lumber company. A central part of its mission involves rebuilding a culture of woodworking and forest stewardship on the island. The company works closely with artisans, furniture makers, architects, sculptors, builders, and educational institutions to promote the use of locally sourced tropical hardwoods.
The company also serves as a bridge between forestry, conservation, and economic development. Its work complements ongoing research and restoration activities at Las Casas de la Selva while creating practical markets for sustainably managed forest products. Together, these efforts demonstrate that conservation and economic activity need not be opposing forces. A healthy forest can support biodiversity, protect watersheds, store carbon, provide educational opportunities, and produce renewable materials when managed responsibly.
Today, Puerto Rico Hardwoods stands at the forefront of a growing movement to redefine how wood resources are valued in Puerto Rico. At a time when sustainability, climate resilience, and resource efficiency are increasingly important, PRH offers a practical model for transforming waste into opportunity.
More than a business, Puerto Rico Hardwoods represents a long-term vision for Puerto Rico’s future. It is a vision in which local resources are respected, forests are managed responsibly, artisans and entrepreneurs have access to high-quality materials, and valuable wood is kept in productive use rather than discarded. Through innovation, persistence, and a commitment to ecological responsibility, Puerto Rico Hardwoods is helping to build a more resilient and sustainable wood economy for Puerto Rico, one tree at a time.
