“Urban salvage” means lumber sourced from streets, yards, orchards, rivers, construction demolition, and the like. These are trees that are remnants of logging, have fallen in storms, or need to be removed for other reasons. Below you’ll find a couple of urban salvage projects we’ve been involved with.
A property owner in San Lorenzo CA wanted to remove this mighty Claro Walnut tree from their property of 25 years so they could build a house. Anderson’s Alternatives felled it and transported it to an associate’s in Chico, where it was milled on their impressive Woodmizer WM1000. The slabs it yielded are on average 54 inches wide and 14 feet long.
This walnut tree grew overhanging the Comanche River upstream of the Comanche River Dam in Lodi CA. It was cut down to prevent it from falling into the river and potentially damaging the dam. The first person who attempted to haul it away broke their trailer, so it was destined to sit on the riverbank for another five years until we showed up with a double headed alaskan mill and milled it on site. It yielded gorgeous highly figured slabs with extensive fiddlebacked grain which are currently in our inventory
Pecan, Ruddick Ranch, Ukiah, CA
This Pecan tree, planted on the Ruddick Ranch in nearby Ukiah Valley in 1910, fell due to high winds in 2010. The property owners contacted us to remove and mill the fallen tree. We bucked and transported the tree to our mill site in Albion where we milled half the trunk and crotch logs into full-size slabs with an Alaskan mill. We milled the rest of the logs and branch wood into smaller pieces with our band mill. The beautifully figured and spalted wood has been stickered and air dried for three years and is now available in our inventory.
Tulip Magnolia, State Capital Grounds, Sacramento, CA
This tree was planted in 1896 on the grounds of the California State Capital. In 2005 it was slated for removal. After learning the tree would likely be chipped and used as landfill, local artist, Yorgen Kvinsland worked to obtain the rights to remove the tree. In 2007 the tree was felled and transported to Mendocino, CA where it was subsequently milled into slabs that could be used for furniture and other building projects.