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June 2017
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Welcome Bethany, our new Urban Wood Rescue Program Manager!
By Bethany Hannah
June 28, 2017
When I first spotted the announcement for the Sacramento
Tree Foundation’s Urban Wood Rescue Program Manager’s position, I instantly thought,
“What an amazing job!” Not only is it a
position that gets to work with wood every day (and is perfectly positioned to
contribute to the larger urban wood movement), its positive environmental
impacts are numerous and vital. It’s a
‘good for the heart, soul, and body’ kind of job and I’m thrilled to have been
invited to serve in the position.
My love for trees and wood started young, beginning with
climbing trees in the backyard and backpacking among the giants in the Pacific
Northwest, to helping my dad with construction projects and learning how to use
traditional woodworking hand tools from my grandfather. Put simply, I find solace while amongst trees
and contentment from working with wood. On that front, I’ve recently begun
creating sculptures as rookie woodcarver and tend to geek-out a bit when I see
beautiful raw edge tables or furniture with well-crafted butterfly splines and
finishes. The story told through the
grain of wood is as fascinating to me as it is inspiring.
My professional background is broad and varied, from running
a small resume writing business, to helping establish several emerging nonprofits. Critical to the Urban Wood Rescue Program, my
background as a conservation worker and educator, chainsaw and timber skills
instructor, as well as my nearly 20-year involvement in the wildland
firefighting industry enables me to apply very practical skills to the
day-to-day operations of our program. Having worked as a Hotshot firefighter for both the U.S. Forest Service
and the Bureau of Land Management, including becoming one of the only female
sawyers on a Hotshot crew in the country, gives me a strong foundational
understanding of general forestry practices and of the nuances of felling trees
for a multitude of reasons (from disease to habitat restoration). All this is to say, I can run a chainsaw as
easily as I can run a report…and I’m excited by the opportunity to do both!
Finally, the Sacramento Tree Foundation is excited to tell
the last, missing piece of the full life story of trees—including what happens
to a tree at the end of its life-cycle. Without
a doubt, sharing the process of giving a second life to trees through the Urban
Wood Rescue Program is a privilege. So,
too, is working with the local community of artisans, woodworkers, arborists,
and craftspeople who support and are excited to create and use products generated
from the wood of our beautiful urban forests. Saving the wood from trees that need to come down in our urban areas
(and would otherwise be destined for the landfill), and honoring the life of
those trees by creating beautiful and functional products, is powerful and
important. I’m looking forward to creating a program that helps to share that
message.
I would love to hear from you if you have any questions or
thoughts and am truly excited to be a part of the team.