Home
»
August 2017
»
Urban Wood Rescue Program Update
August 1, 2017
As they near the end of their lives, urban trees often need
to be removed for a variety of reasons like disease, safety, and pests.
Historically, these trees have been cut down, chipped, and left at the dump to
decompose, which is truly a sad and wasteful situation. Luckily, urban wood
rescue programs are popping up across the United States, saving these trees
from becoming trash by milling them into usable lumber, which can be used by
artists and craftsmen.
In July of 2015, Sac Tree was awarded a grant from Cal
Fire’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) to create an Urban Wood Rescue
Program. Since then we’ve worked to create a site plan for our sawmill yard and
we are going through the City’s permitting process. After we’ve gained the
necessary approvals, construction will begin and we’ll be able to kickoff our
business plan as we look forward to giving the wood from urban trees a second
life.
With that said, we often receive questions about the status
of our program and we think that this is the perfect time to update our
tree-friendly followers:
-
Unfortunately, at this time we do not have a
inventory of milled/dried lumber for sale. We anticipate having lumber
available over the next few months and interested parties should check our
website or through social media for updates.
-
We plan on offering both dimensional lumber and
live edge slabs. We’ll also consider offering full logs and rounds, if desired.
-
After moving to our new yard, we will likely
begin accepting donated logs. We will accept logs from our priority species
list that are at least 12 inches in diameter and longer than 6 feet in length.
While all donations are subject to approval, priority species include: walnut,
oak, stone fruit trees (all varieties), maple, sycamore/London plane, elm,
Chinese pistache, redwood, cedar, ash, locust, camphor, and zelkova.
-
Unfortunately, we are unable to remove trees. If
you’d like to donate a tree, you will need to coordinate with a tree service to
have the tree(s) removed and transported to our site.
-
We will have a variety of milling and drying
services available. There is a cost associated with these services, which are
to be determined once we are up and running.
-
You are welcome to let us know what kind of wood
you might be interested in purchasing in the future, ideal dimensions, and
anticipated uses.
We are excited to give the wood from urban trees a second
life, making wood available for purchase for community projects like benches,
fences, and playground equipment to personal projects like furniture and
artwork. We are looking forward to sharing the final piece of the story of our
urban trees – including what happens at the end of a tree’s lifespan. Please
follow us on social media (Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram) and check the website to
keep track of our Urban Wood
Rescue Program as it develops.