AncesTREE App Helps Cities Locate and Manage Urban Lumber Troves

Climate Clock Ticking as Cities Struggle to Slash Emissions

OLIVEHURST, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 27, 2023 / Cities across America face an uphill battle to combat climate change and reduce emissions by 2030. From New York to Los Angeles, and everywhere in between, municipalities are scrambling to find ways to meet ambitious climate goals set by local and state governments. But with landfills overflowing with organic waste, one major opportunity is being ignored: salvaging downed urban trees for lumber instead of sending them to landfills.

The numbers are daunting. New York City aims to cut emissions by 80% by 2050. Los Angeles intends to be carbon neutral by 2045. Dozens of other cities have set similar targets. To meet them, governments are pushing for more renewable energy, electric vehicles, and energy-efficient buildings. But studies show these efforts will fall far short absent a massive reduction in organic waste going to landfills. A whopping 30% of what ends up in landfills is organic waste from trees, yard trimmings, and food scraps. As it decomposes, this waste emits methane, a greenhouse gas 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Reducing these emissions is crucial to cities hitting their climate goals.

Yet municipal solid waste plants aren't equipped to compost organic matter at a large scale. So mountains of fallen trees and trimmings get dumped into landfills each year. Across the country, urban trees alone generate over 30 million tons of waste annually when they're removed or fall - enough to fill a line of dump trucks stretching halfway around the planet.

But what if downed urban trees could be salvaged for lumber instead of winding up in landfills? Jennifer Alger is working to make that solution a reality. Alger founded Far West Forest Products, which rescues trees from the waste stream so they can be turned into lumber. Her company also developed AncesTREE, an app that lets cities easily locate, assess, and manage their stock of downed urban trees - diverting them from wood chippers and landfills into climate-friendly lumber.

It's a small but growing movement. Urban lumber initiatives have sprung up everywhere from Ann Arbor to Austin to Oakland. They're proving fallen city trees can be given second lives as slabs, boards, even furniture grade lumber. And the carbon payoff is enormous. When trees are landfilled, their carbon gets emitted as methane. But when made into durable goods, they can sequester carbon for decades or longer. Studies show a cubic meter of wood made into lumber stores 740 pounds of carbon dioxide on average - equal to two months of emissions from driving a car.

With the climate clock ticking, forests advocates see urban lumber as low hanging fruit. Cities have free access to a steady supply of tree wood. And they can create jobs milling and marketing it.
Scaling up won't be easy. Removing and milling urban trees costs more than disposal. And training a workforce skilled in urban lumber takes time. But cities like Baltimore and Oakland are already using grant money to fund pilot projects while lobbying for more state and federal support.

"We have less than a decade to dramatically cut emissions. With landfills brimming and climate action lagging, cities can't afford to keep throwing their trees away". As Jennifer Alger puts it, "Urban trees are one of our most wasted natural resources. AncesTREE lets us find hidden value in what we throw out and turn it into real climate solutions." Cities have their work cut out to meet ambitious climate goals. But with smart policy and creative solutions, lumbering our fallen urban forests into timber could provide a path forward.

ABOUT ANCESTREE

AncesTREE™ Inventory Management is an easy-to-use app for lumber producers to manage their inventory, track, and sell wood. The Urban Lumber Marketplace from Far West Forest Products rescues urban trees and gives them a second life by rescuing them from the waste stream and converting them to lumber - and also provides tools such as AncesTREE™ to empower others to do the same. CEO Jennifer Alger has spent 25 years rescuing downed urban trees from landfills and converting them to lumber, and co-founded AncesTREE to help expand the urban wood movement. For more information, visit farwestforest.com. For additional information, visit AncesTREE™ on Instagram and Facebook.

CONTACT

Jennifer Alger
jennifer@farwestforest.com
530-682-6548

SOURCE: AncesTREE