Forest clearance on the ground<\/h2>\n
The trail begins in East Kalimantan province, eastern Borneo, where Auriga and Earthsight visited an industrial timber concession operated by PT Indosubur Sukses Makmur (ISM).<\/p>\n
Satellite analysis shows the company has been clearing natural forest since at least 2021, destroying 1,200 hectares (about 3,000 acres) to date, including 138 hectares (340 acres) in 2025 alone. That\u2019s the equivalent of three American football fields of rainforest each day.<\/p>\n These forests are home to critically endangered orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) and endangered proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus). ISM\u2019s 28,000-hectare (69,200-acre) concession overlaps with orangutan habitat in the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat karst, a prehistoric landscape being considered for recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Officials estimate only 310 orangutans remain there.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir survival is gravely threatened by this deforestation,\u201d said Hilman Afif, a campaigner at Auriga.<\/p>\n The karst system is also vital for groundwater absorption and conservation.<\/p>\n \u201cThis shows that PT ISM\u2019s presence in this landscape accelerates the ecological crisis by threatening biodiversity and undermining vital environmental functions for both humans and wildlife,\u201d Hilman said.<\/p>\n Local Indigenous communities say the clearance has disrupted their livelihoods and that there\u2019s been minimal communication and compensation from ISM.<\/p>\n Where does the felled timber go?<\/p>\n Auriga and Earthsight traced ISM\u2019s logs to Indonesian plywood giant PT Kayu Lapis Asli Murni (KLAM). In 2024, ISM supplied 17,853 cubic meters (630,473 cubic feet) of natural forest timber to KLAM \u2014 87% of the mill\u2019s total roundwood intake that year. The bulk of it was meranti, or lauan, a lightweight, flexible and moisture-resistant tropical hardwood ideal for bending into RV sidewalls.<\/p>\n KLAM exported much of this plywood to the U.S. Half of its 2024 shipments went to two U.S. intermediaries: MJB Wood and Tumac Lumber. As recently as April 2025, seven containers of KLAM plywood arrived in the U.S. port of Baltimore, destined for MJB Wood.<\/p>\n MJB Wood also reportedly sourced lauan from two other Indonesian suppliers tied to deforestation, according to Earthsight.<\/p>\n From there, the supply chain splinters.<\/p>\n First, MJB Wood directly supplies Jayco, the best-selling RV brand owned by Thor Industries, the world\u2019s largest RV maker.<\/p>\n Second, both MJB Wood and Tumac Lumber supply Patrick Industries, an RV parts manufacturer whose customers include three of the largest RV manufacturers in the U.S.: Thor, Forest River and Winnebago.<\/p>\n Earthsight notes it\u2019s impossible to say with certainty whether a particular RV contains deforestation-linked plywood. But given the quantities involved, it is \u201calmost certain\u201d that U.S.-bound plywood from KLAM and other Indonesian mills includes wood from deforestation in Borneo.<\/p>\n A parallel investigation by U.S. campaign group Mighty Earth found similar patterns in western Borneo. Timber felled in West Kalimantan province by PT Mayawana Persada, one of Indonesia\u2019s most notorious industrial deforesters, was processed by PT Asia Forestama Raya (AFR) on the neighboring island of Sumatra, before being exported to California-based Transindo USA. Transindo confirmed AFR is one of its suppliers, but declined to comment on Mayawana. The plywood was sold on to Patrick Industries.<\/p>\n \u201cThe use of meranti plywood is the RV industry\u2019s dirty secret,\u201d said Amanda Hurowitz, forest commodities lead at Mighty Earth.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Winnebago Industries said the company \u201ccares deeply about our planet\u201d and that its teams are \u201cworking quickly to better understand the concerns raised in the report and take any appropriate actions.\u201d<\/p>\n The company didn\u2019t respond directly to questions about whether its RVs currently use plywood linked to deforestation in Indonesia.<\/p>\n Thor, Forest River and Mayawana Persada didn\u2019t respond to Mongabay\u2019s requests for comment. Thor told The New York Times that its suppliers are forbidden by U.S. law to buy illegal timber, and that it wasn\u2019t aware of any deforested wood in its supply chain.<\/p>\n The revelations land awkwardly for an industry built on Americans\u2019 love of the outdoors. RV ownership has soared in recent years, with more than 8 million U.S. households now owning one.<\/p>\n The number one reason Americans give when they buy RV is their love of nature and the great outdoors, the RV Industry Association notes.<\/p>\n For Anna Montgomery, a resident of Charleston, South Carolina, a $77,000 Winnebago Minnie Winnie seemed like the perfect way to spend time with her family in nature. She admired its wood finish. But she never imagined her RV might be tied to rainforest destruction.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t anything that I had thought about,\u201d Montgomery said as quoted by The New York Times. \u201cHere I am thinking, I got a good RV but what is the reality of it?\u201d<\/p>\n Industry insiders say U.S. RV makers have relied on lauan plywood since the 1970s because it\u2019s strong, light and cheap. Without it, manufacturers would have to use heavier alternatives that reduce fuel efficiency and compromise safety.<\/p>\n Today, RV makers are the biggest U.S. users of tropical plywood, overtaking construction. In 2024, U.S. imports of lauan plywood jumped 88%, most of it from Indonesia.<\/p>\n That same year, the U.S. overtook Japan as Indonesia\u2019s second-largest plywood export market (after China).<\/p>\n Earthsight and Auriga estimate around 500 meranti trees are felled in Indonesia each year to supply the U.S. RV industry.<\/p>\n \u201cUnwitting, nature-loving [RV] owners in the U.S. would be horrified to learn that the wood in their vehicles can be traced to deforestation threatening the lives of people and critically endangered Bornean orangutans in Indonesia\u2019s rainforests,\u201d Hurowitz said.<\/p>\n Sustainable alternatives exist.<\/p>\n Auriga notes that roughly 30% of meranti logs used in Indonesian mills already come from forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the world\u2019s leading ethical wood certifier.<\/p>\n Yet none of the lauan plywood traced to U.S. RVs was FSC-certified, Hilman of Auriga said. KLAM bought no certified logs in 2024.<\/p>\n That absence is especially striking because the cost of going sustainable is negligible. If RV makers demanded FSC-certified lauan, the average cost of a vehicle would rise by at most $20 \u2014 or 0.06%. \u201cWith a travel trailer selling for $33,000, that\u2019s negligible,\u201d Hilman said. \u201cThey could even absorb the cost entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n At the height of the RV boom in 2022, Thor posted $2.2 billion in profits. Yet, according to one plywood industry insider quoted by Earthsight, \u201cThe RV companies never ask about sustainability. All they care about is price.\u201d<\/p>\n The investigations highlight systemic failures in both Indonesia and the U.S.<\/p>\n In Indonesia, industrial forest concessions like ISM\u2019s are allowed to clear natural forest legally. \u201cThe root of the problem lies in the Ministry of Forestry: Why are they granting [logging] permits in natural forests?\u201d asked Auriga director Timer Manurung.<\/p>\n He said companies are effectively pressured to clear all the trees in their concessions, or risk having their annual work plans rejected. \u201cI\u2019ve met businesspeople with good management practices and good intentions, but they despair at the government,\u201d Timer said.<\/p>\n Indonesia\u2019s timber legality system, known as SVLK, was once praised internationally. In 2021 it was expanded to cover sustainability as well as legality. But new guidelines introduced in 2022 weakened its standards, critics say.<\/p>\n Requirements for biodiversity protection, conservation set-asides, and reduced-impact logging were either scrapped or absorbed into narrower legality definitions.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a pity, because SVLK has been running for 15 years, and the standard should have been raised \u2014 but instead environmental protection has become more relaxed,\u201d said Mardi Minangsari, a forestry expert from Indonesian environmental NGO Kaoem Telapak.<\/p>\n Access to information, one of the SVLK system\u2019s key selling points, has also been curtailed.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year, much public information was reclassified as \u2018restricted.\u2019 Now there is almost nothing we can access,\u201d Mardi said. \u201cHow can [the government] talk about strengthening governance while restricting transparency?\u201d<\/p>\n In the U.S., the Lacey Act bans imports of illegally harvested wood \u2014 but not timber from legal deforestation, like ISM\u2019s. Nor does it require importers to trace wood beyond species and country of harvest.<\/p>\n \u201cIf deforestation wood is not illegal here, then it cannot be covered by the Lacey Act because no law is being broken,\u201d Mardi said. \u201cThe U.S. will say: \u2018Is it illegal in Indonesia to cut natural forests? If not, who are we to forbid it?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In Europe, by contrast, the upcoming EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requires proof that timber is both legal and deforestation-free, including geolocation data.<\/p>\n \u201cSo the U.S. is very weak,\u201d said timber supply chain expert Diah Suradiredja. \u201cUnder the Lacey Act, the U.S. cannot blame the RV industry because the problem is at the country level.\u201d<\/p>\n Experts say reforms are needed on both sides of the Pacific.<\/p>\n In Indonesia, Hilman urged full legal protection for all natural forests and a strengthened SVLK system. Timer said Indonesia\u2019s forestry road map must incentivize companies that practice selective logging rather than blanket clearing.<\/p>\n In the U.S., Hilman called for laws akin to the EUDR. At a minimum, enforcement of the Lacey Act should include traceability to ensure imports are deforestation-free.<\/p>\n But without the political momentum necessary to push these measures, the onus falls on RV manufacturers.<\/p>\n \u201cAmerica\u2019s RV giants need to get out of the 1980s and implement the kinds of minimum sustainability standards other U.S. corporates have had in place for decades,\u201d said Sam Lawson, Earthsight\u2019s director.<\/p>\n Hurowitz of Mighty Earth said RV manufactures in the U.S. should adopt similar policies like American home improvement giant Home Depot, which adopted a new policy in 2024 that requires independent third-party sustainability certification, like the FSC, for all wood used in its products which was harvested in Borneo or Sumatra, the Indonesian islands where meranti\/lauan grows.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be this way \u2014 the RV industry in Indiana and beyond can stop using timber tied to deforestation and adopt responsible sourcing policies,\u201d Hurowitz said. \u201cWe\u2019re urging the big RV manufacturers to follow the lead of major American retailers such as Lowe\u2019s and Home Depot who buy only sustainable timber.\u201d<\/p>\n Failure to do so means Indonesia will continue to lose its rainforests, a critical ecosystem for climate change as it stores immense amounts of carbon and releases them when cleared, Timer warned.<\/p>\n For U.S. consumers buying RVs to escape into nature, the hidden cost may be the destruction of the very rainforests that sustain the planet.<\/p>\n \u201cIndonesia has already lost 23 million hectares [57 million acres], or 20%, of its rainforests since 1990, at an immense cost to our climate, ecosystems and Indigenous peoples,\u201d Timer said. \u201cThe destruction has to stop. Companies in the United States and worldwide must clean up their supply chains by excluding timber from deforestation, including from Indonesia.\u201d<\/p>\nFrom Borneo to America\u2019s highways<\/h2>\n
A consumer paradox<\/h2>\n
Cheap fixes, ignored<\/h2>\n
Legal loopholes and weakened safeguards<\/h2>\n
What must change<\/h2>\n