Carving out a new life for ash-borer infested trees

Wood otherwise destined for the chipper is reclaimed for a unique shop class project, to make everything from furniture to board games.

Thestar.com
Dec. 21, 2015
By Kristin Rushowy

Students at Highland Junior High School used to complain about having nowhere to sit outside.

Now, there’s a log “couch,” plus benches, stump seats and game tables - furniture they made themselves from wood salvaged from schoolyard trees chopped down because of an emerald ash borer infestation.

“We were blown away” by what the students and their teacher were able to do, said Justin Nadeau, green projects team leader for the Toronto District School Board, who said there was a push to keep the felled ash trees from the chipper.

“It was one of the dreams we had in the department” to reuse the wood in creative ways, instead of just turning it into mulch, he said. Nadeau noted that the ash borer, while eventually fatal to trees, burrows just under the bark, leaving the salvaged wood structurally strong.

The board has been keeping track of its 3,600 ash trees, in decline because of the invasive beetle, and has been tagging those that need to be destroyed.

“We had 300 in Guildwood, between two schools this past winter” that had to be chopped down, he said. Much of the wood was stored on-site at a high school and is being used to make log benches now being installed in other TDSB schools.

But he was impressed by the Highland project when it came to the green team’s attention, thanks to local Trustee Alexander Brown. “They were creating pieces that our own, in-house construction can’t do ... it’s taking a facilities issue - it’s a tragedy losing these trees - and turning it into a rich learning opportunity.”

Photos of the finished projects left Brown so impressed, he’s now promoting the project to other schools in his Willowdale ward - five of which have already placed their own orders with Highland for items such as game boards and benches, mostly for use in play areas for full-day kindergarten students.

Brown said he hopes to get word out to all schools that have a woodworking shop, “to say ‘Here’s an opportunity to replicate this.’ It’s a great sustainability leadership project,” he said. “It’s entrepreneurial - it’s fantastic.”

The idea began two years ago, when teacher Gary Adler returned from lunch and saw board arborists in the back field, cutting down infected trees there, as well as some hanging over into properties adjacent to the school.

“They had the wood chipper there, and I said, ‘Can we have the wood instead?’ ... I’ve been here five years, and the kids were always saying they had nowhere to sit. So they helped with the idea” to create an outdoor space using the wood.

Now, and as wood from the Guildwood site becomes available, students are making more furniture, and the orders are coming in.

“Students get really excited about it - there’s a sense of pride, a sense of ownership,” said Adler.

Arya Alizadeh helped with sanding and planing the wood used in Highland’s outdoor benches and is now working on wooden platters to give to retiring teachers as thank-you gifts.

“We’re taking it and reusing it. It feels pretty good,” said the Grade 9 student.

The students are learning to create wood pieces to certain specifications, and having real-life clients makes the work meaningful, he added.

“It’s really amazing, our whole community coming together,” said Grade 9 student Karissa Liu, who designed a wooden plaque to be presented to the board in February.