Recent workshops:

“From Saw to Table”
Wednesday January 25th, 2012
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
548 Cleveland Avenue, Albany, CA 94710

The Bay Area Urban Forest Council presented "From Saw to Table," a workshop highlighting the best utilization of salvaged urban wood from street trees and other sources in the Bay Area.

We have a vast resource of urban wood available to us. The challenge is coordinating end-users with those who cut and possess the wood at the start. A typical example is a tree service company that removes/trims trees and a variety of people who utilize parts of trees.

These end-users include but are not limited to:
·        Woodturners

·        Carpenters

·        Sculptors

·        Natural dye people

·        Wood researchers

·        Origami or flower arrangement

·        Hardwood floor installers

·        Construction companies

·        Pallet makers

·        Sawmills

Of course wood can go to the fireplace or be chipped into great mulch, or be dumped into green waste and ultimately composted. 

The best use of our wood is in the higher end usage where we re-cycled a material which is highly prized. It also frees us from plastics and oil based products that are inferior substitutes for the real thing - wood.

The objective of the conference was to educate people, companies, and public agencies on how best to 'harvest' wood so that the product is usable. We also want to connect various organizations so that desired wood is not wasted.

Highlights: The morning  included updates on California Urban Wood Salvage, plus speakers talking about cutting wood, how wood is used, and their own skills in working with wood. There will be displays of unbelievable finished wood pieces, which will be available for purchased by the public in the afternoon.

Presenters Included:

·        Elizabeth Lundgren - From E- Arts Studio in Benicia who makes exquisite wood pieces.

·        Bill Tarlton - A former machinist presenting on quartersawing techniques.

Sacramento Valley Urban Forest Council and California Urban Forests Council present a workshop: - click here for a printable flyer

The Urban Forest Management Plan Toolkit

Time: Thursday, June 9, 2011, 11:30 - 2:30
Place: West Sacramento City Hall, Room 157 (1^st floor), 1110 W Capitol Ave, West Sacramento, CA 95691 - Please park in the overflow special-event lot 
Cost: $35 for members, $40 for non-members --  Membership is free - please join here!
CEUs: 2 ISA and CUF continuing education units

The Urban Forest Management Plan toolkit provides an overall framework and process for developing an urban forest management plan, and online tools that allow to multiple collaborators to develop a work plan from analysis through implementation.

The Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP) Toolkit website can be used by anyone managing a large population of trees in or near urban areas. The toolkit is intended to help urban forest managers develop management plans that are appropriate for their urban forests

Ted Swiecki will also cover some of the urban forestry assessments that are key components of the management plan process.


May 19-21, 2011 at the Presidio of San Francisco!
See the full agenda at:

 http://fuf.net/urbanwood/registration.html.

Bay Area Urban Forest Ecosystem Council
Counting on the urban forest: Tree inventories as the first step in resource management 
Download agenda/flyer here - register online below

January 6, 2011, 8:30-1:30
Location: Marin Non-Profit Resource Center, 555 Northgate Dr, San Rafael, CA 94901

Speakers include:
Dana Karcher of Davey Resources: Trees are assets to cities, just like playground equipment and roads.  By inventorying the tree asset, a city enhances the value of the urban forest by knowing what they have and how to manage it. 

Jeremy Tibbetts of ArborPLUS: Learn about ArborPLUS, an easy to use online program built specifically for homeowners associations, apartments and various commercial properties to have the all their trees identified, rated as well as have a 5 year projection of all their tree needs.  It also acts as an educational tool building awareness of the value of the community trees, their individual needs, and proper tree care practices.

Amber Bieg of the San Francisco Urban Tree Map: The Urban Forest Map is a new online tool developed by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), in cooperation with Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) and the City of San Francisco, to catalogue the city's leafy assets. Anyone with a web browser, whether on a mobile device, laptop or desktop computer, can add information about specific trees to the Urban Forest Map, such as their location, species, size, and health. That data can then be used by urban foresters and city planners to better manage trees in specific areas, track and combat tree pests and diseases, and plan future tree plantings. This talk will be a walk through of the application demonstrating its capacity and discussing future changes and adaptations.

 

California Urban Wood Products Conference

 Program Highlights:

• Overview of the emerging urban forest products industry, Sam Sherrill and Eric Oldar.
• Certification. Is it necessary and does it help sell products?, Katy Fernholz.
• Carbon sequestration of urban forest products, Steve Bratkovich.
• What is happening elsewhere in the US?, Jessica Simons.
• Estimating the saw log content of the urban forest, David MacFarlane.
• Urban Forest Products Today and Industry Shifts in the Design/Build Industry, Paul Discoe.
• The role of CA arborists and tree service companies, Andy Trotter