Arborists in California are developing a program to cut down and replace city trees when they reach the end of their lifespan. As Noah Haggerty notes in an article in Governing, the project will prevent trees from falling on and damaging homes or power lines, while also providing the state with a source of wood.

Leaders of the Conservation Corps of Long Beach, which runs the current program, want to expand it with more funding. “Right now they’re working sporadically with borrowed equipment, but (executive director Dan Knapp) wants a crew of corps members dedicated to the project full-time, with their own mill and kiln to dry the wood and a retail store to sell it – all on the same property.” The trees cut by the Conservation Corps have already been used in homes and musical instruments.

Managing urban forests requires mapping each individual tree, knowing its condition and age, and knowing where trees are at risk from storms, pests or encroachment. But such efforts require tremendous manual labor. Experts say urban trees could replace up to 10 percent of the United States’ annual wood needs, yet many are currently turned into mulch, reducing their ability to sequester carbon.