Logo: Unified Wood Economy

PROJECT

Twin Cities

Twin Cities,
 Minnesota
Outdoor shot of a large crane lifting a fallen tree out of a suburban yard while a tree removal professional in hard hat looks on.
Rainbow Tree Care, Inc. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
Active

The Twin Cities region of Minnesota has a long legacy in forestry and wood innovation—from its first sawmill at St. Anthony Falls in 1821, to its rise as a national lumber leader by the late 1800s. Today, its extensive urban forest faces threats from the emerald ash borer (EAB) infestation, disease, and severe weather, creating a surge in wood waste.

The Problem

The “wall of wood” that is facing the Twin Cities is massive and the peak of wood coming down due to EAB is still a decade out. Addressing this wood waste “tsunami” requires an all-hands-on-deck approach from multiple angles and players. Currently, the volume of wood “waste” is so great that burn pits, out-of-state-dumping, and landfills absorb a large amount of the wood (in addition to large mulch facilities). Wood waste has also been supplying energy-producing facilities in the region but their future is tenuous.

Our Solution

Working with Rainbow Tree Care, Unified Wood Economy (UWE) is exploring the development of a large-scale wood upcycling campus scaled to match the size of this crisis. Scaled urban wood utilization will make positive health and economic impacts by diverting valuable resources from landfills and burn piles to high-value options. This team is building a business case for a wood upcycling campus (with potentially more than one aggregation site) in the greater Twin Cities. A deep well of knowledge and interest in wood utilization already exists in Minnesota and the success of this project is directly tied to a strong base of committed stakeholders. This project is poised to take a “bite out of the wood tsunami” but the scale of the problem will require a wide range of innovative and regenerative solutions.

The collaborative work of private, public and non-profit can create new ways of operating and allow new opportunities to arise. Don't wait until you have a problem, take inventory of what your community is currently doing to manage this material. Look at the sustainability of this management and whether it provides the highest and most responsible use of that material for the future.
Ben K. Cooper, General Manager of Rainbow Treecare