New database for sources of urban wood

The Southeast Urban Wood Exchange encourages all businesses in the U.S. Forest Service’s Region 8 with a stake in the urban wood movement to post their products and services for free at UrbanWoodExchange.org.

The new site is a clearinghouse for businesses ranging from professional tree care and removal services through sawyers, kiln dryers and lumber suppliers to connect and create local urban wood networks. The Urban Wood Exchange features a searchable database that helps users find urban wood providers in their state.

Product listings include Cut Logs, Milled Lumber and Firewood/Chips. Service listings include Arborists, Sawyers, Kiln Operators and Lumber Sellers.

An underlying mission of the Southeast Urban Wood Exchange is helping to facilitate the highest and best possible use of community trees at the end of their service. These trees are felled due to old age, insect infestation, storm damage, utility excavation and other circumstances. They are never meant to be removed, however, solely for their wood value.

“Our goal is to encourage utilization of urban wood on the local level including producing sustainable lumber for use in municipal projects and by professional and hobbyist woodworkers,” Nancy Stairs, urban forestry program coordinator of the North Carolina Forest Service, said in a statement. “By treating removed urban trees as a resource the costs associated with the removal and disposal of trees are reduced and the amount of urban wood in the waste stream is minimized.”

The Urban Wood Exchange is hosted by the North Carolina Urban Forest Council, in partnership with the NC Forest Service’s Urban & Community Forestry Program and funded through the USFS Southern Region 8. The Exchange serves 13 states extending from Florida to Texas on the south and Virginia to Oklahoma on the north.

For more, visit www.urbanwoodexchange.org.