Urban logging #1: A small victory in urban logging (part 1)

Thanks for the informative post Daren. Congratulations on your efforts. I too think trees are majestic. I am somewhere in the middle though. I have toured many paper mills and have seen their conservation efforts first hand. They tend to be good stewards. This is not always the case overseas. I am all for utilizing urban trees to their full potential and I applaud you on your efforts.

-- Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit.

Don’t get me wrong in my standpoint. I am not “anti logging” proper forest management is vital to the health of the forest. Selective logging and proper stewardship make better forests, no doubt about it. I am ”anti-waste”, that is why I am personally an urban logger. The millions of BFT of usable wood products that are being wasted in this country through improper management of our urban forests is my concern. Here in this country there are strict laws to protect trees in nature and logging companies are highly regulated…but the same guy keeping on eye on those trees/parties involved in their harvest is letting the tree out side his office building get hauled to the burn pile when it gets removed . That was metaphorical of course, but trust me from my years of experience not too far from real life situations when dealing with governing bodies.

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

Daren,
I’m pretty new to woodworking, but have just recently started to try to find local materials that are being collected in a responsible manor. Old finds in barns, or trees that needed to be removed anyway for safety of other similar reasons. Fortunately, I’m a slow worker so I don’t need much in the way of supply, but I would love it if I could find a guy like you in the Richmond, VA area. I’ve been looking, but haven’t found him/her yet.

I may still buy the occasional small boards or veneers from a store to try exotic woods in small quantities, but I do feel that it is important to stretch these, and any other resources as far as possible. I appreciate your work and congratulate you on the results. Keep fighting the good fight!

Nice read. Thanks for taking the time to lay this out in black and white. My town is full of big street trees. the city has an arborist, but I still see trees piled up on the side of the road.

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

Excellent post keep up the good work! Where are you from in Illinois, I live in Effingham County?

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

Daren,

Thanks for the post. I enjoyed reading this. I am on your side. It hurt when I had to have a cherry and two ash trees taken out 6 or 7 years ago and they went into firewood. The cherry had died the previously year was at least 80 years old and I am not sure about the ashes. I tried in vain to find someone to mill it up but couldn’t find anyone to do it. I think that there is (1) a lack of businesses such as yours available and (2) a general lack of visibility from those that are in the region.

I am all for converting these trees into usable lumber rather than seeing them go into firewood or burned or simply left to rot.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

That’s very cool Daren.

I’ve wondered about some of those same issues here in the Minneapolis -St. Paul area. The sawyering thing isn’t for me as I’d rather spend the time on woodworking, and don’t have room to store much lumber. But I’ve found a couple of local sawyers and plan to support them.

Best of luck

-- johnjoiner

Daren, I think what you’re doing is awesome. I’ve worked construction before, and I’ve seen so much waste. There were times that they would throw better stuff away than I would buy in Lowes. No one cared to take the time to plan for their materials. They made more money by simply being faster. The waste that was generated was apalling. I think what you are doing is fantastic. It’s time we step up to the plate and respect out resources.

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)

Here is a quote from “Utilizing municipal trees from around the country” Stephen M. Bratkovich

“In the United States over 200 million cubic yards of urban tree and landscape residue are generated every year. Of this amount, 15 percent is classified as “unchipped logs.” To put this figure in perspective, consider that if these logs were sawn into boards, they theoretically would produce 3.8 billion board feet of lumber, or nearly 30 percent of the hardwood lumber produced annually in the United States.

The staggering number of tree removals in cities and towns across the country becomes necessary for a host of reasons. Storm blowdowns, natural mortality, severe insect and disease damage, construction activities, and many other circumstances can change an urban tree from an asset into a liability. Municipalities are faced not only with the volume of tree removals but with the associated financial costs as well. Rising labor and transportation costs, increased landfill or tipping fees, and lost opportunity costs (money that cannot be spent elsewhere in the community) create a financial burden for managers of municipal tree programs. Even if disposal costs were not an issue, landfill space is dwindling, and tree disposal in landfills has been either outlawed or reduced by regulations in many States.

Meanwhile, the American appetite for wood continues to grow. Although net growth on commercial U.S. forestlands exceeds harvest by about one-third, our nation is still a net importer of forest products. The utilization (recycling) of municipal trees can contribute to the conservation of forestland resources by generating wood products from trees that need to be removed anyway.”

The whole thing is an interesting read in my opinion. http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/misc/utilizingmunitrees/index.htm

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

Great blog and a very worthy concern. Thanks, Daren!

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

The CBC today had an interesting piece on the damages of the powder post beetle up here.
The devastation in British Columbia alone would take 14 million logging trucks just to haul away the damaged trees.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

I wish that I could afford the equipment to mill my own lumber and use up the trees that I see getting hauled to the landfill in my city…..such a waste : ( Great article you have posted here : )

-- Dusty56@comcast.net

You’ve got my support – as you know…

That’s great that you were able to communicate with the DNR folks and get them started thinking more about urban logging…and ways to connect others to urban loggers…

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Daren,

I think it’s great what you are doing. We live in the country and have a sawyer with portable mill come in and saw our dead oaks and aspen, but it isn’t possible to get anyone to saw a tree that was in close proximity to the homestead. Unfortunately, over the years people often drive nails into trees to hang things, attach fences to trees, or any number of other practices which are a great risk to saw blades. In urban areas, there is an increased chance of imbedded metal in the tree. We hope you have a very good metal detector to save yourself money in the long-run for blade replacement. What you are doing is a huge encouragement to all of us woodworkers.

-- "But godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6

Daren, this is a great story.

Fortunately, it only took 5 years to get your elected officials to recognize the truth when it hit them.
Most of the elected folks where I live wouldn’t even get around to thinking about this for 10 years, then 10 more before they acted on it.

Why do we elect such stupid people?

My $.03

Lee

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

lightweight, yea I hit my fair share of things. It is just part of the business. I am not terribly happy when I do, but I just “deal with it”
A nail in some cedar

But I still managed to salvage a little wood from that tree.

Here are some nails in a walnut

BUT this is what was below the nails…200 bft of curly walnut !

More metal

BUT that tree had 1000 bft of stuff like this.

You have to take the good with the bad as an urban logger. I hit some nails…but who else has access to piles of free lumber like this ?

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

Sawdust2 (and everyone else) This one small victory is quite the exception to the rule when dealing with government agencies. I found this out very early on, “going to the top” gets you nowhere. I will tell how it works in this town.

As a quick side note before I give my example, this latest piece of good news from the DNR was not even triggered by a thoughtful plea on my part or an attempt to explain myself. I am ashamed to say it came from a sort of hateful and somewhat sarcastic email to a lady I did not even know (now I do and she is a very nice and intelligent lady). I sent an almost rhetorical letter (most of them have been for the last 3-4 years because even if I expected a response I never got one) after reading the new plan to plant all these trees asking what the plan was for the millions that will be cut down this year. She replied simply “I would like to speak with you”...she read between the lines and got it. The result was more conversation and the page I linked. A total surprise to me. I have written volumes to people I thought should care, just to have them ignored. A short 2 paragraph note to the right person got this one ball rolling.

I have to explain my set up. My house is right next to the city tractor shed, we share the block. Those are the only structures on the block my stuff and the cities stuff. Before I got my mill I saw all the trees the city was hauling out to the country and burning, driving right past my house with them. When I got my mill I approached a few city council members, like the street dept. chairman, and asked about just dropping the good logs at my place…nothing. So I went to the village board meeting and thoughtfully explained my proposition…nothing. I went to the mayors house and continued to explain that city employees where actually incurring less labor by dropping them here than hauling them all the way out to the burning place. And as a taxpayer I felt those trees were city property and I thought that was a terrible waste of my tax money just to burn them. There is a story on my website on the “urban logging” page about city workers burning an oak tree from the park then buying lumber to make repairs at the park…that was a direct shot at this city because it is a true story. The mayors response to my desire for the logs was “Personally I don’t have a problem with it, but I’m afraid it would look like if we are using city equipment to help you then other businesses/individuals in this town would expect the same” (was his excuse) Well, firstly there is no business in this town. It is a little speck on the map a “bedroom community” they have done nothing to court/support business therefore no businesses.

I saw that was getting me nowhere. I tried the proper channels and was shot down. So I went to plan B. I went to where the city street guy was working and told him I had talked to the mayor and city council about getting logs he was removing and they did not support it. He said “Well that is just stupid I have to haul these all the way out into the country and since they are wet I pour 5 gallons of diesel on them to even get them started burning” and “I have to babysit the fire and push the piles up and start them again usually, the whole mess is a bunch of work” followed by “Forget what they say. I will mark the trees that are coming down and tell you where they are, you mark the ones you want and I will bring them to you”

That was over 3 years ago. He brings me logs. He has never gotten reprimanded (or even had anyone say a word). That ship has sailed already, it’s really to late to stop it now the towns people support what I do. Here is a funny picture just because of the circumstances. This is the city guy, with the city tractor posing on a curly redbud burl log he was dropping off. The mayor drove by while I was taking the picture and just looked the other way !

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

Wow! That’s some sensational lumber. I’m trying very hard not to envy. (1 Timothy 6:6)

-- "But godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6