Logging in: Urban Forestry Program offers exotic woods to Palomar students

By: JIM TRAGESER - Staff WriterWhen you're looking at the various entries in the woodworking competitions at this year's San Diego County Fair at Del Mar, pay attention to the woods used in each project. | Thursday, June 22, 2006 8:03 PM PDT ∞

Torrey pines, like this one at Carlsbad State Beach, dot the San Diego shoreline. When these and other rare or unusual trees are removed because of development or safety reasons, students in the Palomar College Cabinet and Furniture Technology program benefit. They use the wood for their projects, some of which are on display in the Palomar Student Showcase at the San Diego County Fair.
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If that award-winning cabinet comes from a Palomar College student, and if it is made from black acacia; or that guitar from Palomar has carob inlays; or perhaps the mantel clock is made from Torrey pine ---- there's a good chance the wood you're looking at came from trees that grew locally.

Of the above species, only the Torrey pine is native to our region. But because homeowners and landscapers have planted non-native trees in this area for more than a century, many rare and exotic trees are now growing in neighborhoods throughout San Diego County.

And when they come down ---- as all trees must eventually ---- many of them end up at Palomar College's Cabinet and Furniture Technology program.

Partnering with the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Palomar's woodworking program is able to offer a variety of exotic species to its students at discounted prices for use in their projects ---- and to keep trees that are harvested because of disease or safety issues out of already overcrowded landfills.

Russ Filbeck is one of five full-time faculty in the Cabinet and Furniture Technology program (part of the Trade and Industry Department). He said in the late 1980s, the state began emphasizing the need to lessen the volume of refuse going into landfills.

Filbeck said Eric Oldar of the state forestry department proposed using the Urban Forestry Program to keep as many trees as possible out of landfills. While the program's main thrust is to encourage planting more trees in urban areas, it is also taking the lead in finding innovative uses for the wood of those trees when they have to come down. And though urban trees have not traditionally been seen as a source for lumber, many are well-suited for that purpose. Oldar recognized that a woodworking program would be a good destination for them, Filbeck said.

"Rather than these heavy logs going into the landfill, they would be utilized for products," Filbeck said. "That would save the cities money in not having to pay for the weight those logs accounted for in the landfill."

Filbeck said Oldar contacted Palomar in 2000 to see whether the woodworking program would be interested in receiving urban trees through the state program.

"He provided us with a sawmill and two dehydration kilns for drying the lumber," Filbeck said. "We created a venue to educate the public about conservation and reducing the loss of natural resources, and to be able to create a beautiful product from species that are not commercially available."

With the state's backing, Palomar has gotten the word out to tree removal companies and government agencies.

"We have worked out agreements with the local cities, their park and recreation departments, such as Balboa Park, that when they have to remove a tree and it is a tree of some value ---- certain species are not usable, like eucalyptus ---- the cities give us the logs, we convert them into lumber, and our students are able to purchase the lumber at a very reasonable price."

Filbeck said trees such as sycamore, magnolia, carob, mulberry, elm, black acacia and black oak have been among those the school has received for its woodworking program. When the Naval Training Center in San Diego was decommissioned and the city began converting part of it to new housing, the program received numerous black acacia trees that had lined the NTC roadways.

"Here we have these unusual species, many beautifully figured, that our students are able to build their furniture pieces from at a very reasonable cost," Filbeck said.

Cam Baher of San Marcos is one of those students. This spring, he took his sixth course in the program. Each semester, he said, he sees what exotic woods are available as he prepares his new project. When he took his first class three years ago, he selected black acacia for a mantel clock.

"The grain, the color ---- it takes on a very dark, almost cherry color," Baher said. "It looked very organic ---- I just left the knots in place."

Matt Porter of Carlsbad, also on his sixth class, said he used Torrey pine for a mantel clock a few years ago. "It definitely has a nice, rich yellow color, and takes a finish really well," he said. "It's very rare; you can't use it from a tree that wasn't salvaged."

Porter said he made the clock as a gift for his grandfather, and wrote up some background on the Torrey pine to include with the clock. "He lives in Colorado, and giving him a gift with a San Diego connection was special," he said.

Filbeck said the Torrey pine has a special resonance for the students, as it is both endangered and local.

"We have been able to use a lot of Torrey pine," Filbeck said. "The Torrey pine is indigenous to the San Diego and Channel Islands areas, and is somewhat of a protected species, so it's not harvested commercially. Only when there is development or hazards to safety are these trees removed.

"It's very similar in texture to the eastern white pine and the sugar pine of the Northwest ---- similar in characteristics," he said.

If homeowners or anyone else has a tree or trees that have to come down, Filbeck said the college is always seeking more wood for its students.

"What we're looking for is logs that are probably 16 to 18 inches in diameter in clear 8-foot lengths; anything less than that is very difficult to process and then store."

But if there's a weakness to the whole urban woods program at Palomar, it's in getting the logs to the college.

"We do not have log-handling trucks, and so we wish we did, but we rely on the cities and the developers in many cases to bring the logs to us," Filbeck said. "We have in the past rented trucks to haul in some logs."

To use the donated trees, they must be cut into lumber ---- which is where the sawmill on loan from the state comes in.

"It is a portable sawmill, a band saw on trailer frame," Filbeck said. "It can handle logs up to about 30 inches in diameter, which are a pretty large logs. We also have another sawmill called a Lucasmill that allows us to handle logs up to 48 inches in diameter."

Once the logs are cut into lumber by the sawyer (Palomar students can work with the sawyer to learn how to cut logs), they must be dried before they are ready for use. Experienced students are also involved with the drying process, Filbeck said.

How long will the sawmill and kilns be on campus? It is an open-ended arrangement with the state, Filbeck said.

"We view it as, so long as our program is vibrant and productive and we're continuing to support the communities and provide education with the equipment, the Forestry Department will continue to provide the equipment for us.

"We view this as educating the public about conservation, and they're able to see a value in these products," Filbeck said.

Contact staff writer Jim Trageser at (760) 631-6628 or jtrageser@nctimes.com.