Now there is another option: “Urban” trees can be salvaged and their wood recycled into lumber for furniture, hand railings and many other useful items.

Interested citizens can learn about tree salvaging and recycled wood uses at a free Urban Tree Salvage Expo, Oct. 22 at South Lake Union Park, 860 Terry Ave N in Seattle. The expo is co-sponsored by King County, Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, and Washington State University Extension.

Admission is free to the expo, which is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and features mobile wood mill demonstrations, displays of locally produced wood crafts and educational booths that illustrate uses for recycled wood.

“This expo offers a wealth of information on the uses of local and reclaimed wood resources as an environmentally sustainable resource,” said Bobbi Wallace, King County Parks Division Resource Manager.

“We want to attract an audience of wood-working hobbyists, the green building and remodeling community, boat builders and others to demonstrate that using local and reclaimed wood resources is an environmentally sustainable enterprise, and to connect the public to places where local and reclaimed wood items can be purchased,” Wallace said.

King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks (DNRP) has received a grant from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and the U.S.D.A. Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry program to enhance the utilization of trees that must be removed from county parks. The new Urban Tree Salvage Program for parks and natural resource lands establishes a new tree salvage protocol for sustainability.

Wallace said trees that fall in natural areas can be left in place to provide ecological benefits. However, when trees come down in urban parks, campgrounds and recreation areas, the county must pay for a tree service to haul the trees to the landfill, where a disposal fee is charged.