A Common Mission Creating Extraordinary Results
Working to fulfill a mission to inform, collaborate, and connect to build community, business, and consumer confidence in the urban wood industry.
The Urban Wood Network is a collaborative network of urban wood industry professionals and stakeholders (individuals and entities) from across the United States and beyond.
The Urban Wood Network was developed in 2017 to formally unite unique urban wood industry groups and efforts under the common mission of growing professional and consumer confidence in the urban wood industry through information, collaboration, and connection.
Though urban wood utilization has occurred for decades, and informal networking around utilization has occurred in different areas across the U.S. since the 1990’s, we’ve learned that the only way to truly establish and support full circle urban forestry management is through a unified effort. Since the early 2000’s, the founding groups behind the Urban Wood Network program have worked diligently to unite, promote, and demonstrate urban wood utilization. Now our ever-growing network of urban wood industry professionals (from Municipalities and Arborists to Sawmills, Suppliers, Manufacturers & Makers, Design Professionals, and beyond) and state-specific chapters are provided access to consistent messaging/marketing tools and a useful platform for collective experience, support, and connectivity to help the industry thrive.
Who We Are
- WE are tree lovers, arborists, sawyers, woodworkers, manufacturers, municipalities, designers, architects, consultants, retailers and beyond that share a passion and an understanding of the urban wood industry.
- WE Lead the urban wood industry, with membership across all industry sectors at all scales
- WE represent the established standards, practices and highest quality urban wood products
- WE establish consistent messaging, terminology and branding
- WE address environmental crises, promote sustainability, and provide the tools needed to fulfill our mission
Our Origins
- Emerged in the Midwest in response to the Emerald Ash Borer crisis in the early 2000’s
- Collaboration of public, private, and state and federal stakeholders
- Funded by a USDA Forest Service grant and officially established in 2017
- UWN was created to unite fragmented and siloed efforts and develop a unified, sustainable solution for the urban wood industry
- Recognized the industry’s massive 8 billion board feet volume, it prioritized the standardization of practices
- Initially focused on the EAB, expanded
- In 2019 UWN membership adopts USRW’s membership more than doubling membership
UWN Tenets
- Urban trees have their highest value while living. When these trees need to be removed, they should be put to their highest and best uses to maximize their economic, environmental, and societal benefits for people in urban areas and beyond.
- Sustainable recovery and the highest and best use of urban forest products are essential components of sustainable urban forestry management.
- Increased end user demand for urban forest products is essential to increasing demand all along the urban wood use chain and producing benefits throughout the urban forest sector.
- The Urban Wood Network will effectively achieve its mission through collaboration and information sharing.
- The Urban Wood Network is committed to work in partnership with the full diversity of stakeholders that share our vision and mission.
Become a UWN Member
We invite all to become UWN members for a positive impact on communities and the environment, by building awareness and markets.
Our Leadership
Board of Directors
Scott Ward — Chair
Fifth Estate Communications
Scott is a veteran communications and marketing professional with experience in the nonprofit, agency, government and entertainment fields, and has a passion for advancing issues and causes that directly impact people and our planet. He built Fifth Estate on the conviction that strategic communications is a powerful force that can be harnessed to make substantial, positive, enduring change in the world. Scott is also an industry thought leader, offering professional development trainings, speaking and participating on panels, and placing articles in such trade publications as PR Week and PR News.
Rick Siewert — Vice Chair
Wood From The Hood
Rick is the president and second-generation owner of Siewert Cabinet & Fixture Manufacturing, Inc. He’s been involved in the Architectural Woodwork Institute (AWI) since 1991, serving on both the Minnesota and National Board of Directors, as well as numerous AWI committees. In 2008, Rick and his wife started Wood From The Hood, a producer of reclaimed urban lumber and custom wood products from the Twin Cities urban forest. With other key urban wood enthusiasts, he helped form the Urban Wood Network.
Frederik Laleicke — Treasurer
North Carolina State University
Frederik is a Wood Products Extension Specialist and Assistant Professor at NC State University. Originally from Germany, he came to the United States in 2012. After spending five years at Oregon State University, he accepted a position at NC State University. Frederickkis passionate about urban wood utilization and wood products. He regularly teaches workshops related to drying and gives presentations to educate about the various facets of wood.
Jennifer Alger — Secretary
Far West Forest Products and
Urban Salvaged and Reclaimed Woods Inc.
Jennifer is CEO of Far West Forest Products, and manages Wood-Mizer California. For over 25 years she’s rescued downed urban trees from landfills converting them to lumber, and manages the USRW Certified Urban Wood Store. She provides many tools that help store carbon in lumber, and co-founded AncesTREE™ inventory management app and Urban Lumber Market to help others do the same.
Thaddeus Driscoll
Colorado State Forest Service
Thaddeus works with a variety of urban wood stakeholders to support and develop the industry and practice in Colorado. He values the opportunities local wood use provides and advocates for it within forestry, trade, political, and educational groups. His interest in urban wood started in college by looking for local materials for art and furniture projects, then blossomed into his professional passion.
Jennifer Flynn
SEEDS EcoCorps
Jennifer is the EcoCorps Program Director for SEEDS Ecology and Education Centers based in Traverse City, MI. SEEDS has championed a “wood rescue” initiative since 2013 to salvage non-native black locust wood and has expanded the initiative to include wood felled in communities across the Northwest Lower Michigan region. This carbon sequestering initiative is now incorporated into training for those 16 and up who work with the program.
Jeff Perkis
Trotter and Associates, Inc.
Story Wood
Jeff is a licensed architect dedicated to design excellence, sustainable practice, and community engagement. At Trotter and Associates, Inc., he leads projects from concept through construction with a focus on resource stewardship. He is also the owner of Story Wood, “wood with a story.” This venture was born from Out of the Woods, a project he co-created that transformed storm-damaged trees into functional works of art and connected him to the urban wood community. As a board member of the Urban Wood Network, Jeff champions circular economies and the creative reuse of salvaged wood to strengthen communities and celebrate local stories through design.
