Capital Region Cares Capital Region Cares 2018-2019 | Page 43

L
ike any forest, Sacramento’s urban otherwise blighted trees, the program
slabs that are popular in home decor
forest is subject to vicissitudes of na- is able to repurpose lumber and sell it and art.
ture. Disease, pests, fires — any num- inexpensively to consumers and organi-
The foundation secured funding
ber of misfortunes can cause trees to
zations in the area.
to launch the program in April 2018
die, be felled and require removal. The
“We are thrilled to have partnered
through a California Department of For-
Sacramento Tree Foundation’s Urban
with the [Sacramento] Tree Foundation,” estry and Fire Protection grant and is
Wood Rescue has a solution to prevent says Liz Liles-Brown, marketing and already planning to expand on its pro-
these urban trees from being neglected
sales director of the B Street Theatre. digiously successful first few months.
or summarily destroyed — a solution “The beetle kill wood in our theaters not “We are increasing our capacity to offer
that gives back to local artisans and in- only provides a gorgeous esthetic; it also
wood products to the public and to mak-
stitutions, and provides a useful product
ers or designers who might be interested
where waste would otherwise win out.
in having a sustainable, local product in
Through the Urban Wood Rescue
their offerings,” Robinson says.
program, The Sacramento Tree Founda-
“Typically, that wood is either sent to
tion is providing a new home for those
the landfill, chipped into mulch or cut
landfill-bound trees, repurposing those
into firewood,” says Robinson. “It just
trees as lumber and providing a service
seems like such a tragic end to a tree
to organizations and artisans through-
that had so much beauty and history, so
out the Sacramento area. One such
[Tretheway] thought of this program as a
customer that Sacramentans may be fa-
way to complete the lifecycle and make
miliar with is the B Street Theatre; wood
sure that wood doesn’t go to waste.”
provided by the program makes up the
The Urban Wood Rescue project has
striking blue-streaked paneling that
allowed the foundation to repurpose
lines the newly christened Sofia Tsako-
landfill-bound wood — and in doing so,
poulos Center for Performing Arts.
to eliminate carbon emissions, as well.
“The B Street Theatre is one really
“By keeping that wood in its whole
— Stephanie Robinson, communication and
large-scale project we did, The Sofia,”
form and milling it into lumber or slabs,”
engagement manager, Sacramento
says Stephanie Robinson, the founda-
Robinson says, “we continue sequester-
Tree Foundation
tion’s communication and engagement
ing that carbon for generations to come,
manager, referring to the theater com-
and we give a more meaningful second
pany’s new home in 2018. “We milled all
helps with the acoustics for our plays
life to these trees that are really dear to
of the acoustic paneling that you see on and musical concerts.”
the heart of Sacramentans.” n
the inside.”
First conceived by Sacramento Tree
The Urban Wood Rescue program
Foundation Executive Director Ray Robert Schaulis is a native Sacramentan
provided the B Street Theatre with bee- Tretheway with the goal of salvaging and graduate of UC Berkeley. He is man-
tle kill pine, also called “denim pine,” urban trees that needed to be removed aging editor of a local trade publication.
prized for the blue streaks that boring
for reasons of disease, public safety
insects have left on the wood.
or construction, the Urban Wood Res-
Through partnerships with the City cue project currently operates a 1-acre
of Sacramento and several local tree
lumber yard and two mills — one for di-
companies who remove dead, sick and
mensional lumber and one for live-edge
“we give a more
meaningful second
life to these trees
that are really
dear to the heart of
Sacramentans.”

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