Wood From the Phoenix Arizona Urban Forest
Living in the desert environment in Scottsdale, Arizona, I am fortunate to obtain wood that is both exotic and rare for my woodturning endeavors—exotic in the sense that the trees are not indigenous to the area, and rare because unusual species of trees have been introduced from many tropical and subtropical regions of the world that can thrive here. The urban forest, so-called, is comprised of trees planted for landscaping by homeowners, residential/commercial developers and municipalities along streets and in parks for shade and beautification. I acquire (salvage) this wood when the trees are removed by others due to senescence (age-related deterioration), safety reasons, invasiveness, construction, or road widening. Few, if any, of these woods are available commercially, and include: African Sumac, Carob, Eucalyptus, Acacia, Citrus, and Mesquite. Several varieties of these species of these are common and include: Eucalyptus, Acacia (Australia, Africa), and Mesquite (Indigenous, Chile, Argentina).
When these trees are removed, attitudes have changed regarding the environmental impact of what to do with them. Most, unfortunately, are still discarded at landfills and left to eventually deteriorate over many years. Others are cut up for firewood. In both cases, the carbon dioxide sequestered by the tree during its life is released back into the atmosphere. It has been shown that viable urban forests around the world sequester a significant amount of carbon dioxide, and many cities have come to realize this. With respect to the present-day concern regarding anthropogenic climate change, urban forest trees, when necessarily removed for the above reasons, offer a sustainable source of valuable lumber not previously considered. And within which, much of the tree’s carbon dioxide remains captured when the lumber is used for making furniture, turned objects and flooring, among other long-lasting items.
In the Phoenix area as well as other large municipalities such as Los Angeles, there are lumber-producing companies whose resources are trees necessarily removed from their urban forests for the reasons first mentioned above. Moreover, there are a significant number of woodturners that use wood from these trees in their endeavors. I am one of them, and a great proponent of wood salvaged from my local urban forest. The first two images illustrate where most of the trees removed from the urban forest unfortunately end up—landfills and for firewood. Professional tree removal firms in many cases would be willing to deliver freshly cut logs of such trees to companies converting them to lumber, rather than the costly alternative of being charged to discard them at landfills.
A
D
B
E
C
F
A. Private landfill, where discarded tree logs, landscape trimmings and debris have been left to deteriorate over years in the harsh Arizona environment. Most of the logs cannot be readily identified, are badly checked and half-buried in a haphazard manner. However, if one is diligent, usable exotic wood species can be found. The trimmings and debris have been reduced to a rich black mulch-like material, a potential soil amendment.
B. A private firewood lot, where tree removal contractors were allowed to discard recently cut down tree logs at no cost. The lot owner would store the cut-up logs for a year to dry. He would allow me to inspect the logs and select what I could purchase before splitting the wood up for firewood. Readily identifiable are African Sumac, Acacia and Mesquite, among many other unidentifiable species.
C, D, E, F. Wood examples salvaged from the firewood lot: C (Acacia species), D (Mesquite), E (Carob) and F (Acacia species)