Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Blogs:
First Bell - On Education:
No City of Akron basketball tonight
Pets:
Pet telethon re-airs
The Heldenfiles:
Chipmunks "Squeakquel" on DVD/BD March 30
Akron Zips:
Late surge gives Zips ugly road win
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
Varsity Letters:
Garfield at Buchtel basketball
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Akron Law Café:
Citizens United v. F.E.C. (Part 4): Kennedy's and O'Connor's Basic Approaches to Constitutional Decisionmaking – Top Down and Bottom Up
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
Track HR Research
Akron Gamer:
'Tecmo Bowl' recreation of Super Bowl XLIV
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
By Katie Byard
Beacon Journal online journalist
POSTED: 04:46 p.m. EDT, Apr 01, 2008
Akron has found a way to turn old wood into new trees.
The city is selling the wood from trees removed from city property under a new program dubbed Forest to Furnishings.
The first sale -- completed last week -- was made to Robertson Enterprises of Sharon Township, a saw mill that makes hardwood flooring, baseboards and other items.
Robertson Enterprises bought nearly 90 logs for $4,700. Proceeds from the sale will be used to plant trees.
''By consuming the wood and making it into something that is useable, instead of throwing it in the landfill, that's a lot more profitable for everybody,'' said Charles Robertson, owner of Robertson Enterprises.
Bill Hahn, the city's arborist, said, ''We're making money to put back into tree-planting projects.''
Previously, the contractors who removed the trees would haul the wood away. The contractor would sell the best pieces to mills and sell the lower-grade material as fire wood or turn it into mulch. Some might end up in a landfill.
Robertson's logs are from trees -- deemed hazardous -- that were removed from Memorial Parkway.
''We're not cutting trees to sell,'' Hahn said, ''but removing trees for public safety reasons.''
Robertson plans to turn all of the wood into new uses, or sell it to woodcrafters.
''I have a lot of retired people who come out and buy wood to make bird houses,'' Robertson said.
Lower-grade wood might be turned into tomato stakes.
He even has a market for ''scrap items,'' such as as burls, knots and crotch branches, which are sought out by some artists.
Robertson's son, Eric, already has sawed many of the logs into boards.
Next week, the city plans to cut down about 50 ash trees that are ''older and stressed'' as part of its effort to ward off the emerald ash borer, Hahn said.
Such trees are magnets for the insect, he said.
Logs from those trees will be available for sale.
The borer has killed millions of ash trees in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Ontario, Illinois, Maryland and Virginia.
Locally, it has been found in Medina, Portage, Cuyahoga and Lorain counties.
The larvae burrow under the bark, killing ash trees in three to five years.
The city plans to plant about 80 trees in the areas where the trees will be removed, Hahn said.
Akron has found a way to turn old wood into new trees.
The city is selling the wood from trees removed from city property under a new program dubbed Forest to Furnishings.
The first sale -- completed last week -- was made to Robertson Enterprises of Sharon Township, a saw mill that makes hardwood flooring, baseboards and other items.
Robertson Enterprises bought nearly 90 logs for $4,700. Proceeds from the sale will be used to plant trees.
''By consuming the wood and making it into something that is useable, instead of throwing it in the landfill, that's a lot more profitable for everybody,'' said Charles Robertson, owner of Robertson Enterprises.
Bill Hahn, the city's arborist, said, ''We're making money to put back into tree-planting projects.''
Previously, the contractors who removed the trees would haul the wood away. The contractor would sell the best pieces to mills and sell the lower-grade material as fire wood or turn it into mulch. Some might end up in a landfill.
Robertson's logs are from trees -- deemed hazardous -- that were removed from Memorial Parkway.
''We're not cutting trees to sell,'' Hahn said, ''but removing trees for public safety reasons.''
Robertson plans to turn all of the wood into new uses, or sell it to woodcrafters.
''I have a lot of retired people who come out and buy wood to make bird houses,'' Robertson said.
Lower-grade wood might be turned into tomato stakes.
He even has a market for ''scrap items,'' such as as burls, knots and crotch branches, which are sought out by some artists.
Robertson's son, Eric, already has sawed many of the logs into boards.
Next week, the city plans to cut down about 50 ash trees that are ''older and stressed'' as part of its effort to ward off the emerald ash borer, Hahn said.
Such trees are magnets for the insect, he said.
Logs from those trees will be available for sale.
The borer has killed millions of ash trees in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Ontario, Illinois, Maryland and Virginia.
Locally, it has been found in Medina, Portage, Cuyahoga and Lorain counties.
The larvae burrow under the bark, killing ash trees in three to five years.
The city plans to plant about 80 trees in the areas where the trees will be removed, Hahn said.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
