[0:06] [music] [0:09] We're at Meadow Park in the city of [0:10] Minnetonka. It's one of our five [0:12] community parks and we're out here doing [0:15] some tree removal [music] training. [0:18] We have approximately 60,000 ash trees [0:22] in [music] the city. Almost all of those [0:25] will die over the next five or so years. [0:28] And that's a lot of wood to deal with. [0:31] Yeah. Right now we got this big ash tree [0:34] over here. Almost has died from old ash [0:37] bore. Could fall across our trail. So [0:39] we're going to remove it before that [0:40] [music] happens. We'll come in with a [0:42] back cut right about in here. And I'm [0:45] guessing it'll just be a couple inches [0:47] deep before [music] the tree wants to [0:48] crack off. It's really really pretty [0:51] brittle right now. So we'll start up the [0:54] saw and give it a go. [1:01] Oh, watch that hanger. [1:05] >> And right now [music] I'm in a tonka. A [1:07] lot of that wood is brought to our brush [1:09] drop. We chip that wood. It gets shipped [1:12] to District Energy [music] in St. Paul [1:14] and it's burnt for energy. [1:16] >> [snorts] [1:16] >> Some of these logs coming [music] out of [1:19] the woods or people's property are [1:21] actually salvageable lumber and they [1:23] [music] they can be used for different [1:25] things. And really that's what this [1:27] workshop is about is getting people [1:29] together [music] trying to come up with [1:30] some ideas and find creative ways to use [1:33] the wood around the metro area. [1:35] >> Definition of urban wood. [1:39] >> Basically it's trees that are coming [1:40] down for any purpose other than being [1:42] sold. [1:44] Right now, we're in kind of this ramp up [1:46] of development because we have [music] [1:48] such a large influx of uh wood waste [1:52] from Emerald Ashbbor and a lot of [1:55] municipalities are starting to see so [1:58] much ash uh having to be taken off out [2:01] of their landscape and they [music] have [2:03] nowhere to put it. [2:06] >> We're in the urban world. It's over a [2:07] hundred woody tree species here and they [2:10] all have a little different thing they [2:12] do. They they twist, they turn, they [2:14] wiggle around. They have all sorts of [2:15] character. And the character plus the [2:18] story is what a lot of people are really [2:20] attracted to. We're going to have a [2:22] couple uh saws moving. So, you just [2:25] don't want to get too close to the saw, [2:27] obviously, right? But stay back a little [2:29] bit. Each group of seven, we'll stop at [2:31] one log [music] and just hang out. We're [2:33] going to use our log sheet thing and [2:36] we'll have measuring devices and we're [2:38] going to grade and scale these logs as a [2:41] team. [2:44] >> [music] [2:48] [music] [2:53] >> This is our [music] first uh sawmill [2:55] demonstration. [2:57] So, uh, if you want to see like how [2:59] everyone kind of graded a different [3:00] sawmills wood and so I [music] would [3:03] recommend kind of looking around at all [3:05] the different piles throughout the [3:06] afternoon and you'll kind of see the [3:08] different cut quality and textures [3:09] [music] that come from each saw. [3:13] The influx of wood and the fact there's [3:16] really no market for it is creating a a [3:19] [music] huge supply and no demand. And [3:21] it's good wood. Yeah. but it's [music] [3:23] just not your traditional forest product [3:25] would like you would find in a in a [3:27] rural forest that's full of rows and [3:29] rows of the same tree. This is a chain [3:32] with a cleaner tooth. You can come in [3:35] and touch it. Just don't watch out. [3:36] That's probably hot. [3:37] >> So, what we're hoping to do with uh [3:39] increasing the education and outreach [3:42] components [music] like our workshop [3:44] today is kind of get people's minds [3:47] turning on what can they do [music] to [3:49] use this wood product. So, uh, creating [3:52] opportunities [music] to make new [3:54] products and, uh, increase that usage is [3:59] going to be really beneficial to dealing [4:01] with wood waste, uh, across the state. [4:04] [music]