What is all this talk about urban timber?  If you're in or near Atlanta than this is something you should know about.  If you're into sustainable design or an eco-skeptic give the next few paragraphs a chance.  Simply put, this timber is harvested from urban environs and processed into lumber or slabs for the furniture or millwork industries.

  Urban timber is the product of urban forestry.  Urban forestry is the result of the manner in which our cities have grown, and how the logging industry has grown away from, those cities.  Trees are harvested from urban environs on a daily basis.  This may be the result of development, disease, or damage.  More often than not this material is sent to landfills. It has been estimated that a quarter of all timber felled in America wind up in landfills.  While much of this material is suitable for firewood, chipping, or pulp a significant amount can also be processed into furniture and cabinet grade material.

Industry is about efficiency.  The most efficient forest to harvest for our timber needs are in rural areas.  High product yields, low risk, efficient operation so long as your gear is working correctly.  Another benefit unique to rural areas is the lack of contaminants.  Not only must harvesting be efficient, but the timber must be of suitable value to make all the effort worthwhile.  If trees grow crooked, or are filled with metal (nails, bullets, lights, signs, fences, etc) they are not worthy.  Broken blades do not make for an efficient mill.  Crooked trees do not make stable timber.

Loggers long ago realized that working in a city is only a fraction as efficient.  Furthermore, humans are constantly nailing, shooting at, or building into trees.  These contaminants may affect the color of the wood thereby affecting the value.  Look how much work it is for arborists to manage tree stocks in cities..private property, power lines, traffic.  Bottom line means low yield, high risk.  I'm sure you've seen arborists at work trimming trees or removing them completely.  In Atlanta this waste may be cut for firewood, but; all too often it is sent to a landfill.  The city administration has no log drop or recovery spot for this timber.  Trees cut by city crews are sent to a chipper and are then recycled back across park grounds..  All too often I see timber lying where they fell, rotting.  

Since many American cities only saw their size balloon in the last 100 years these urban forests have remained intact for some time.  In the case of Atlanta it is now one of the most heavily forested urban areas in the country.  Whats more is this urban Appalachian forest is 100 years old or better.  Walnuts, Cherry, Poplar, Maple and Oak Trees galore.  Growing fat and large in our yards, parks, and right of ways.  They are only cut when damaged by storms or disease or development that have marked them for death. 

  Some tree service companies are aware of the growing demand for urban timber and maintain log yards where suitable trees are stored until purchased by sawmills.  Others, who are contracted for tree removal are open to working with motivated woodworkers such as myself.  The bottom line is that urban timber is a grassroots movement.  Small sawmills and portable operations, motivated arborists and tree service companies, property owners  and woodworkers are able to redirect a fraction of the timber being removed from Atlantas forest.  This timber can be processed into viable lumber and slabs, fully seasoned, and suitable for fabrication.  While it is a little more demanding of skill and knowledge than commercial timbers it remains a far superior alternative to filling landfills with waste.  

For the skeptics check out the Urban Timber Gallery of finished works.  The pieces therein have been produced using air-dried slabs, kiln dried lumber, air dried lumber, vacuum dried...all have been fabricated from material salvaged from the Atlanta metro area.  It makes sense to advocate the urban timber recovery efforts.  These trees can be processed by small operations and brought to market.  Even without the green aspect, the opportunity to recover large slabs or mill large dimensional lumber from otherwise doomed stock is a boon for woodworkers and enthusiasts who are excited to see extraordinary cuts of wood.