Is anybody here involved in planting trees or supporting foundations that do?

[Drunken Woodworker]

I'm starting to feel like I should give back to the earth (stupid hippie) what I take. Where should I start?

[JayWC]

Honestly, start by being sensible with the wood you select (local species), reducing waste through careful planning, minimize your power consumption by keeping lights on only where you're working, install low water use plumbing fixtures if you have them in your shop and look into solar electric or solar thermal systems. I know what I wrote is oversimplified, but my point is to treat the disease...not just the symptoms. If you're looking to do more stupid hippie (J/K) things look into any sustainable movement. You can range from combating non-native species, clean up garbage on the roadside, plant trees as part of an arbor organization or create projects from re-cycled or up-cycled projects, etc. The bounds are limitless and doing something at all is a great step.

[Drunken Woodworker]

Great advice! I'll stop using wenge and zebrawood as firewood.

[rodger.]

I try to plant trees whenever I can. I planted 2 cherry trees, 2 pear trees, a willow, and 40 norway spruce in the last few years. This year I hope to plant about a half dozen maple trees. I am also looking at plantig some walnut saplings.

I also try to conserve lumber during a build. Whatever scrap is left goes to a secondary project (like cutting boards) and the really small stuff goes into the kindling pile for my woodstove. Most of my sawdust goes to mulch.

[Howtoworkwood]

Awesome question.

Does anyone know of a site or something you can donate to which will plant trees on your behalf?

[duckkisser]

alot of tree planting companies plant just pine because they grow fast and they show up in a life time where as the more rare and better hardwood take a few lifetimes to mature. if you plan on planting trees plant walnut cherry, real apple trees not the dwarf. hickory, ect.....

figure out how many tree you use in a year in lumber then triple it that is the number of trees you should grow and plant. if you have you own house start the seedling in the back yard and then find some place that you can plant them. a friend of mine that passed planted 6 trees every other year. in two years time he havested them and planted them around the state. then planted 6 more he rounded up and figure he used 1 full tree in a year. he started doing this when he was 30ish and died at age 93 he planted probably 183-200 trees in his life time. in fact im eyes one of his now thinking it would make a realy nice white oak bench.

*hint* railroad track make great places to put a tree. because cant build next to them just keep far enough from the road and the tracks themselves and you will end up with a mature tree by the time your a dodering old man who cant see in your shop anymore.

[Drunken Woodworker]

Franklin Pug, where do you plant your trees?

[Drunken Woodworker]

This seems to be a good place to start:

http://www.arborday.org/shopping/memberships/memberships.cfm

[Onboard]

It doesn’t sound like you need any motivation, however, you (or those that replied) may enjoy reading the short story (9 pages) called "The Man Who Planted Trees”. It's also called “The Story of Elzéard Bouffier, The Most Extraordinary Character I Ever Met”. The story needs a small edit here and there, but otherwise it’s very readable.

[Beechwood Chip]

There are several nice recitations on YouTube.

is in English.

[rodger.]

Franklin Pug, where do you plant your trees?

I live on a few acres, so I just plant them on my property.

[Beechwood Chip]

Philadelphia has a program that my block took advantage of. Two of my neighbors took a "tree tenders" training course. With two tree tenders on our block, we qualified for a tree planting program. The city provided the saplings and the neighborhood supplied the labor. We planted more than a dozen trees on both sides of the street on one block.

The two "tree tenders" watered them until they were established, and all but one survived. They provide shade in the summer, both for pedestrians and for the homes, which reduces air conditioning costs. I hear that they also help the water table, provide habitat for beneficial birds, and reduce air pollution. They certainly add to the quality of life on the block, and they don't hurt property values, either.

The trees were planted in "tree wells" in the sidewalk. The cutouts were already there, but had been empty for decades.

[CessnaPilotBarry]

My wife plants an incredible amount of trees right in our own yard. Someday, someone is going to have some great stock!

[jHop]

There are some other resources that are available for investing. However, as their primary interest is in making money, they do not plant as many species as we woodworkers might use. I personally own stock in Plum Creek Timber, a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) that owns and maintains acreage for lumber harvesting. This does not directly answer the question, because the majority of the stock they plant is in that "pine" nature, but they do operate some non-pine lands.

Locally, I have not found any organization that plants anything but evergreen seedlings. I have, however, found small seedling pots at a local outlet store. These seedlings were oak, pine, maple, and hickory, and were found in the toy isle. How well they will grow we shall find out. (Unfortunately, as I do not own any land, I cannot plant them anywhere just yet.)

Check with a couple of the 4H groups, too. There might be a few forestry types in your local groups that might appreciate the attention. (Some local Scout Troops, Girl, Boy, or Venture, might also be participating.)

[jcthornton]

Most states have some government (state or federally owned) lands that are forested. You can usually find who is responsible for those areas and work with them to get permission to plant. Even city and country parks are options - if you are willing to care for them long enough that they get established, and let them choose where the trees go, many park owners are willing to accept the donation. In suburbia, you might even be able to find some individual homeowners who would like extra trees. If there are homeowners associations around you (especially if you live in one) their newsletter can help you reach out.

If you don't mind taking a little more of a leap of faith, once you identify where you want to get the trees from, you could even use craigslist or similar to try to find a landowner who would be willing to let you plant on their property.

[rodger.]

I am happy to plant some trees for you guys. Just send me the saplings in the mail!

[duckkisser]

frank ill send you a wallnut i just finished drying some was going to eat them but after post thinking ill plant a few

[Carl Olsen]

You can check this also:

http://tentree.org/

Else not much ideas

[birds&boards]

I would suggest contacting a local conservation organization such as The Audubon Society or Izaak Walton League. Hunting/fishing conservation organization like Pheasants Forever is another possibility. You could also contact your local Soil and Water Conservation District (SWDC) about any habitat restoration projects. City Parks and Rec divisions usually will have opportunities for volunteers to plant or care for trees.

As the Vice-Prez of my local Audubon that would be MY first call. I actually got a grant to plant almost 2000 trees this summer. If you want you can send a check to us and we'll plant some White Pine for you next summer.

[Beechwood Chip]

I heard of some folks ("friend of a friend") who owned a tree farm. when they passed, they didn't want the farm to be turned into another suburban development, so in their will they gave it to the Nature Conservancy. The Conservancy has a "Plant a Billion Trees campaign". You might look into that.

[pghmyn]

I am happy to plant some trees for you guys. Just send me the saplings in the mail!

A big tree farm on your property

[Howtoworkwood]

Hi everyone.

Sorry Beechwood I'm not trying to piggy back on your post above but I spent 4 hours yesterday setting up a fund raising page on the nature conservancy website (prior to seeing your post). It is called 'Wood Workers Give Back' and is aimed at allowing us to replenish some of the trees we cut down.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a website that would allow me to pick which trees I wanted to plant so I went with these guys.

They are aiming to plant 1 billion trees in a variety of places but focusing mainly on the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. I figured this would be a good place to start as the aim is to replenish an entire eco system which will have wide ranging benefits.

plantabillion.org is their site.

I don't make a cent out of the donations and every $1 plants a tree so..... empty your pockets of change and give that .

In just two days I've 'planted' 150 trees so please help that number go up.

Thanks

Gi

[Barron]

You might want to consider the American Chestnut Foundation. They are working hard to restore this tree and are getting close. Check them ou at http://www.acf.org/