Toppled trees receive a second life
January 5, 2009 | 9:33
am
It's a sad truth of the urban landscape: Today's street tree is tomorrow's mulch.
But in the foothills of Santa Barbara, a former stuntman and onetime sea-urchin diver named Rob Bjorklund turns fallen city trees into flooring, mantels, plaques and massive, irregularly shaped conference tables that appear to be suited for a wizard's laboratory.
He uses oaks toppled by storms; eucalyptuses leveled by bulldozers; trees taken down for being too old, too sick, too close to foundations, too hard on sidewalks. Many would otherwise be cut for firewood or buried in a landfill. Read more on the man who finds new uses for urban trees by The Times' Steve Chawkins.
