Last month I joined arborist Andrew Baughn of Eco Tree Co. and Adam Dalgarno, the force behind the woodworking company Rusted Maple Carpentry and Design, for LEAF’s tour of Trinity Bellwoods Park to look at the trees and discuss the state of urban wood in Toronto.
The walk was well attended by community members, many with questions on the fate of urban trees and the quality of urban wood. Andrew and Adam took the group throughout the park to discuss the park’s diverse canopy, the growth and wood properties of Toronto’s trees and the potential to transform local wood resources into art, craft and furniture.
Starting under a towering elm (one of the nearly 35,000 in Toronto’s canopy), Adam discussed how this tree’s flexible wood makes it suitable for lumber and woodworking. Traditionally, elm has been an important wood for making bows, handles and axes. As we stood under its graceful beauty, it was easy to forget the damage Dutch elm disease (an introduced fungal disease) has had on trees across the city. While an inoculation of Arbortech will protect this specific tree against the fungus, Adam laments that the wood from this 90 foot elm will be out of reach.
Adam and Andrew, however, are hoping to change the way things are done by showcasing innovative ways to use wood in Toronto.
We walked over to Carmelite Day Nursery, where in December the ice storm took down a sizeable silver maple. Andrew, with his portable chainsaw mill, offered to mill the wood of this tree, which he had often admired before it fell in the storm. “I had a strong connection to this tree,” Andrew explained, and discussed how he worked alongside Adam to transform the wood into a functional piece of art.
After Andrew’s raw cut on the fallen tree, Adam stripped the bark and sanded down the wood. Adam, an expert welder and designer, presented his finished piece -- a bench with a sleek metal base supporting a thick, slab of the silver maple’s light-coloured wood.
By presenting this piece, Andrew and Adam are hoping to start a conversation about using urban wood in Toronto. Often homeowners are unaware that the wood from trees on their property has value. Andrew advises homeowners to become familiar with their trees, and research the value of its wood before hiring an arborist. Black walnut, for example, is a valuable wood – “worth its weight in gold,” Andrew explained.
Andrew and Adam are hoping to find more creative ways that this valuable resource can be captured and used. For instance, they pointed out an English oak by Queen Street. that could supply thousands of board feet of lumber, and a Bitternut hickory by the tennis courts whose burls could be turned into interesting bowls with dramatic grain patterns.
Lisa Erdle is a forest ecologist and apprentice arborist with Toronto-based We Care Tree Care and a LEAF volunteer.
The Urban Wood Utilization Tree Tour was supported by the City of Toronto – Economic Development and Culture and Ontario Power Generation.