Making the Most of Campus Resources – Trees First, Wood Next and Learning Along the Way
September 15th 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM CST
Michigan State University’s (MSU) urban wood utilization program engages urban forestry students, university staff, and local makers in using removed campus trees to produce urban wood products that are bought by customers from across the globe. MSU students gain hands-on experiences while learning why trees are removed, how to process wood for maximum value, determining the best use of lumber, and how to market urban wood products. Proceeds from sales help plant new trees throughout campus, completing the urban forestry cycle. MSU’s commitment to effective urban forest management earned it recognition as a 2019 Tree Campus USA by the Arbor Day Foundation. Since 2008, the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus Higher Education program has celebrated colleges and universities that establish and sustain healthy community forests and has grown to include eight campuses in Michigan and over 400 around the US. Join the Urban Wood Network in a virtual tour of MSU’s program, learn how students are engaged through curriculum, and how Arbor Day Foundation programs can help your local campus.
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SPEAKERS:
October: The Urban Wood Movement: Expanding from Coast to Coast
The UWN is partnering with the International Woodworking Fair to present a free educational webinar. The Urban Wood Movement: Expanding from Coast to Coast will be available for viewing through IWFConnect October 26th – 30th.
The urban wood movement continues to grow as more and more companies throughout the United States and Canada join in the effort to convert felled municipal trees into lumber, furniture, cabinets and other value-added wood products. Much has happened since IWF hosted the first urban wood seminar in 2016 and again in 2018. The Urban Wood Network (UWN) has emerged as a national association for companies spanning the supply chain including arborists, sawyers, woodworkers and other stakeholders. In addition to its U.S. base, UWN members are located in Canada and other countries. The UWN is dedicated to advancing the expansion of the urban wood movement. This includes working to develop local networks and to provide information and guidance to its members in order to promote the highest use of urban wood. Join us for this unique free webinar to learn how your company can benefit by joining the urban wood movement. Hear from a panel of experts and get answers to your questions about how to start or grow sales related to urban wood products.
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Moderator: Rich Christianson, Editor & Publisher, Illinois Urban Wood
SPEAKERS:
November: National Urban Wood Academy 2020
November 20th 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM CST
The UWN partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation, the Urban Wood Academy, and Dovetail Partners to host the first ever national Urban Wood Network event on November 20, 2020 in conjunction with the Partners in Community Forestry Virtual Experience. This 3-hour event featured experts from each link in the urban wood supply chain who shared stories from across the county of how municipalities and businesses have overcome barriers to build successful urban wood programs and industry in local markets. Municipalities, arborists, sawyers, wood workers, retailers, advocates and agencies are invited to view this virtual event and to join together under a united voice to advance the urban wood movement.
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SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Alger is President of Far West Forest Products and has been working with urban salvaged woods for over 20 years. She is the director of the Urban Wood Network Western Region, and the founder of USRW Inc. that has developed the first ever Urban Lumber Standards for North America. These Standards will be a game-changer for the industry and for the first time allow Chain-of-Custody and certification for urban wood, known as USRW Certified Woods. She is working with an expert team of developers and customer experience specialists on the build out of AncesTREE™ an inventory management system and enterprise application that will allow users to easily adhere to the industry Standards, track the chain of custody, manage their inventory, and generally better manage and grow their urban lumber businesses.
Ben Christensen, CEO/Founder. Ben started Cambium Carbon to create a new way to address climate change at scale in the US. He is a graduate with a Masters of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He is dedicated to scaling carbon removal implementation through novel finance and social mechanisms.
Chris Crocker – Owner, The Good Wood Guys.
Devin Ginther – Owner, Texas Urban Sawmill
Lorri Grueber is the Community Operations Forester with the City of Lincoln, Nebraska. She also has worked with the cities of Frankfort, Kentucky, and Lake Saint Louis, Missouri, and in the private sector. Grueber is an ISA certified arborist, municipal specialist, and TRAQ qualified. She serves on the Midwest ISA Board of Directors. Grueber enjoys helping people learn about trees, whether it is staff, family, or friends. When she is not in her arborist shoes, Grueber enjoys being in her walking shoes, spending time with her horse, bike riding, and exploring her current home of Nebraska.
August Hoppe is a third generation arborist and President of Hoppe Tree Service. He is a past president of the Wisconsin Arborist Association and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Tree Care Industry Association. In 2014 he started the Urban Wood Lab, a division of Hoppe Tree Service that produces urban wood products such as lumber, natural edge wood slabs and custom milling of tree service logs. When he is not working with trees, August enjoys spending time with family and friends, preferably while kayaking or cycling.
John is the City Forester for Stoughton, WI, where he manages approximately 6,000 street and park trees. He also oversees the city’s Wood Utilization Program which takes logs from city trees to make lumber for use in a wide variety of projects all over the city. Prior to working for Stoughton, John was a municipal forester in Illinois and worked on wood utilization efforts in Illinois and Michigan.
Joe Lehnen – is a Forest Utilization & Marketing Specialist, coordinating the Urban Wood Program for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Joe led the effort to establish the formation of the Virginia Urban Wood Group in 2017. Joe attained his BS degree in Forestry/Wildlife Management from Purdue University and has worked for the Va. Dept. of Forestry since 1979, spending most of his career, 33 years, as an Area Forester for the Shenandoah Valley work area, where he and his family live west of Woodstock near Dunkel’s Grove. He also serves as a board member of the Virginia Urban Forest Council, and as the Eastern U.S. representative for the steering committee of the Urban Wood Network.
Healthy ecosystems and thoughtful, collaboratively designed places improve people’s lives. This is the central tenet that drives Lauren Marshall’s career as a professional landscape architect, certified arborist and a national leader for Urban & Community Forestry with the U.S. Forest Service. Through processes embedded in community engagement and power sharing, she helps people weave natural infrastructure into the fabric of their communities, connecting them to the natural world from the tree outside of their front door that shades their sidewalk to the National Forest that provides their drinking water. To accomplish this aim, Lauren has taken on design and planning challenges across scales, ranging from designing vacant properties to maximize nature’s benefits, to building artisan and construction markets for salvaged and sustainably harvested wood products, to increasing landscape scale collaborative planning of our Nation’s forests. She received a Bachelor of Science in Plant Sciences from Cornell University, and her Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Michigan.
Don Peterson – Since 2001, Don has been president of Renewable Resource Solutions, LLC (RRS), whose client base ranges from the federal government to private landowners. Projects include non-profit organization management, business plans, feasibility studies, resource analysis, grant writing, wood energy assessments, and a variety of other projects. Don graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry from Michigan Technological University in 1979. Don has served as executive director of the Urban Wood Network and Wisconsin Urban Wood for the past three years. In various capacities he has been involved with promoting the utilization of urban wood since 1997. Don is also a partner with the USFS Forest Products Marketing Unit, filling the role of Forest Products Specialist on technical assistance projects, including urban wood utilization, throughout the country.
Marisa Repka, City Partnerships Lead. Marisa holds a Masters of Environmental Management with a specialization in Business from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Her work as a writer and student program manager for the Conservation Finance Network has developed her interest in building new financing models for environmental impact.
Carmen Rodriguez, co-owner and chief marketing officer of Eutree based in Villa Rica, GA. Eutree is a boutique lumber mill that partners with local tree services to repurpose trees removed from the Atlanta area for flooring, paneling, beams, slabs, lumber and other fine wood products.
Dwayne Sperber, founder and owner of Wudeward Urban Forest Products, has dedicated himself to building the urban wood industry. For nearly 20 years he has advised on the vast potential of this renewable resource. Dwayne is called on to provide urban wood utilization guidance and products for leaders across sectors including municipalities, academia, arborists, design professionals, manufacturers, and suppliers. Dwayne is an appointed member of the Wisconsin Urban Forestry Council, and founding member and advisor of the Urban Wood Network.
Helping Municipalities Develop Urban Wood Management Programs
December 15th 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM CST
The Virginia Department of Forestry is leading the way in developing statewide guidance for municipal urban wood best practices and incorporating them into the full circle management of the urban forest. Learn about Virginia’s commitment to support an urban wood program on every level – from local arborists and makers to the municipalities that provide them wood.
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SPEAKERS:
Cambium Carbon