By Dwayne Sperber, Wudeward Urban Forest Products
Trees grow, change and like all living things, eventually decline or die. Sometimes trees are removed from urban areas due to safety concerns, tree health or insufficient space. But when these urban and community trees are viewed not as waste, but as a valuable material resource, their story doesn’t end – it continues.
By transforming fallen trees into urban wood products, we can extend the benefits of living trees into the places we live, work and play. These materials – lumber, furniture, architectural woodwork – quietly connect us to nature. This is the basis of biophilic design, the concept of connecting humans to the natural environment.
Do you have a tree inventory but have a hard time keeping it up to date? Or are you interested in inventorying trees from scratch?
Volunteers are needed to be on the ground and up in the tree. Tasks on the ground include helping parents fill out waiver forms, outfitting kids in helmets and saddles and belaying kids up into the tree using pulley systems. Volunteers are needed in the tree to teach kids limb walking, hanging upside down, etc.
Wheels to Woods is a school to forest or forestry-related field trip transportation grant program supported and administered by the WI Society of American Foresters DEI Committee.
*These training opportunities are provided as an information service only and do not constitute an endorsement from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
