
We help trees live on
It's a sad fact that all good things must come to an end.
When our favorite trees can no longer provide us with shade and shelter, we can honor their legacies by putting them to good use. Welcome to the Michigan Urban Wood Network, where local businesses transform landscape logs into lasting beauty.
members

With decades of experience assisting Michigan’s forest products industry, A.K. Weatherspoon Consulting offers chainsaw safety training, technical assistance for urban wood use, and expert advice for running successful forest product operations.

A Southeast Michigan wood-shop specializing in live/natural edge projects from urban timber.

Since 2012, the Genesee County Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Flint has operated a shared marketplace for urban wood. Four vendors currently sell urban lumber from throughout southeastern Michigan.

We focus on permaculture, digital fabrication, social entrepreneurship and community self determination. We integrate living wood into ecosystem services and dead wood into fabricated items in service of local needs and for sale. We train and utilize local community workforce in addition to focusing on local materials.

With over 40 years experience, J&W Tree Artisans have provided quality tree service to local residents in Macomb and Wayne Counties. Specializing in tree removal and tree trimming, we offer a wide variety of services which include milling wood, stump removal, composted soil, firewood, hauling services, rustic furniture, commercial snow service and much more.

Krumrie Saw Mill Services is located in the Southwest corner of the state along the scenic shores of Lake Michigan. Krumrie Saw Mill Services provides portable milling services, drying, planing, and custom heirloom woodworking services for builders, homeowners, farmers, and woodworkers.

Live Edge Detroit is a premier local supplier of rough-sawn urban wood. They salvage logs from tree removal jobs around Metro-Detroit that would otherwise have been turned into mulch or firewood, and mill them into usable materials, like slabs and rounds. Their vision is to continue preserving these beautiful pieces of wood and to make them available for others to enjoy in a new form, for many more years to come.

We are a small weekend sawmill operation working with homeowners to utilize their trees. We operate a Woodmizer LT-40 and travel throughout the Metro Detroit, Ann Arbor, Flint, and Monroe areas. We have the ability to mill small logs under 4 feet in length on our Woodmizer.

The Lumberjacks Tree Service provides professional tree services to Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and the rest of Washtenaw County. With I.S.A. Certified Arborists on staff, they proudly partner with Urbanwood.org and specialize in salvaging urban trees by milling logs into lumber and natural-edge slabs. The Lumberjacks believe in making the most out of our natural resources. Logs not suitable for lumber get recycled into landscape mulch.

MDJZ aids in the harvest of urban wood by milling discarded trees into lumber. The company has been sawing lumber with a Woodmizer portable sawmill since 1995.

Two programs of the Michigan DNR's Forest Resources Division are active in supporting and assisting with urban wood use projects. Both forest products and urban forestry programs play important and complementary roles in helping find more valuable options for the state's removed urban trees.

The mission of the Michigan Forest Biomaterials Institute (MiFBI) is to enhance quality of life in Michigan by fostering sustainable forests, communities, and economies through innovative and responsible production, use, and recycling of forest biomaterials. Wood from urban ecosystems comes with a unique context that presents challenges for utilization. MIFBI recognizes that these unique challenges requires creative solutions and partnerships across traditional 'silos.'

The MSU Shadows Collection has been created as part of the Sustainable Wood Recovery Initiative at Michigan State University. They repurpose fallen campus trees into works of art for alumni and the public . Proceeds from sales support new tree plantings and education in urban wood utilization on campus.

The City of Midland works to find the highest value use for trees that are removed from city property. Hundreds of board feet of EAB killed ash have been used as large timbers in toboggan run towers, pickets on a community built playground, decking on pedestrian bridges and overlooks and mountain bike features. Logs of various species have also been turned into slabs for counters and tables. The City of Midland has also provided logs to individuals for various projects.

Pleasant Lake Hardwoods is a certified American Tree Farm practicing sustainable and responsible forestry in Freedom Township Michigan. We enjoy helping out our community and value the connection with the Urban Wood Network.

Primal Woods offers both portable bandsaw and Alaskan chainsaw milling services. From wood to maple syrup to soap, all of their products and services are built upon the core purposes of value, health and generosity.

Raven Farm is committed to conservation and recovery of lumber that would otherwise be discarded. They turn fallen trees that would otherwise go to landfills into valuable lumber to be used in our shop and the shops of other woodworkers. Raven Farm offers the following services and products: high-grade furniture lumber, custom cabinetry, custom furniture, millwork (trim, flooring, paneling, planing), drying (Nyle L200 dehumidification kiln), and log removal.

Recycle Ann Arbor's ReUse Center is the founding home for the Urbanwood Marketplace, now known as the Birge Urbanwood Center. We currently have 1,500 sq/ft of Urban wood lumber provided by six local producers. Come check out our variety of boards, slabs, and ellipses!

Rubio Monocoat manufacturers and supplies zero VOC HardWax Oil wood finishing products to many urban and reclaimed woodworkers for finishing their furniture, millwork, and flooring projects.

Safari Tree Service is a one-person tree service specializing in small jobs removing dangerous or unwanted trees from residential properties. Safari Tree personally recovers the timber and makes slab lumber for personal projects.

Spalted Banjo Consulting specializes in both traditional and urban forestry consulting and has experience navigating all parts of the urban wood supply chain, including managing tree removal contracts, coordinating wood salvage and handling, and marketing end products.

Sustainable Resources Institute (SRI) works with forestry projects involving every aspect of the forest industry, including urban wood. We work with foresters, professional loggers, sawyers, makers, and landowners on projects ranging from certification of forest lands to harvesting urban wood to marketing forest products.

Tervol's Wood Products specializes in sawing, kiln drying, and millwork. They also can do many other things like natural edge slab tables and counters, mantels, flooring, custom molding, siding, log cabin materials, sign making, hayracks and trucking. They have over 100,000 board feet of reclaimed material already cut and kiln dried. All of their reclaimed lumber comes from tree trimming, new construction sites, or working with municipalities.

Tree-Purposed is built around salvaging urban hardwoods from around Metro Detriot. Trees are condemned and removed everyday from the urban forest. Tree-Purposed saves this local natural resource from landfills, tub grinders and burn piles. Founded by Evan Burger, owner of Arbor Man tree service, their services allow for safe and efficient removal and recycling of dead, dangerous or unwanted trees in urban settings.

Urban Ashes is a full-service design/fabrication studio, producing commercial contract furnishings, custom furniture, custom picture frames, ready-made frames and other wood goods. Saving trees and lives, their business empowers ex-felons and marginalized youth to create intentionally simple and timeless designs, crafted from urban salvaged and deconstructed woods.

Southeastern Michigan's reclaimed wood network brings together six sawmills and tree care companies in Recycle Ann Arbor's Birge Urbanwood Center. As one of the oldest urban wood networks in the country, the Urbanwood Project is a leader in creating sustainable products from removed urban trees.

Verdant Stewardship offers over a decade of experience in promoting the urban wood industry and has provided leadership to nonprofit, business, and governmental efforts at the local, state, regional, and national levels.
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About
The Michigan Urban Wood Network is part of a broader regional effort to promote and build support for the idea of recycling dead urban and community trees. Together with our partners in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri, we are working to identify urban wood businesses, help them to learn from each other, and increase public demand for reclaimed urban wood products.