Beech Tree Paper started with a simple idea: notebooks are something almost every organization uses, but very few companies make them thoughtfully. We wanted to build a notebook company rooted in one place — Grand Haven, Michigan, on the shore of Lake Michigan — using materials that help protect the kind of landscape we work next to every day.

That's the short version. The longer version is that we got tired of seeing "eco-friendly" used as a marketing label rather than a manufacturing decision. So we built our notebooks around recycled and FSC-certified paper from the start, kept production small-batch and local, and worked directly with the nonprofits, schools, and nature centers who actually use these notebooks in the field — not just at a desk.

We're still a small operation. That's by design. It means every order gets real attention, and it means we can say yes to a 50-unit run for a land conservancy just as easily as a 5,000-unit run for a corporate office.