December 20, 2023

Update from the Interim Board of Directors

Happy Holidays UWN members, colleagues and friends –

With a lot of exciting transitions and organizational growth on the horizon for the Urban Wood Network, we’d like to take this opportunity in the end of year newsletter to first and foremost thank you all for the on-going support. As you all know, UWN has been evolving and growing, from a dedicated group of industry leaders in a few regions of the country into a national 501(c)3 organization that exists to serve the needs of the industry from coast to coast across the country. We know that bringing together public, private and non-profit sector partners into a collaborative space where there is so much need and opportunity – to rescue urban trees from the landfill and create a circular urban wood economy – isn’t easy and we could not do this important work without the support of our members and sponsors.

In this final newsletter of 2023, we will provide you with updates from our Interim Board of Directors and our Board committees, set the stage for a January announcement of our new Board of Directors, and start the cadence of quarterly UWN newsletters.

Enjoy our end of year update and if at any time you have questions or would like to learn more about what we’re up-to, please reach out via email at info@urbanwoodnetwork.org or phone 608-371-1282.

Thank you!

Lance Davisson

Interim Urban Wood Network Board of Directors Chair

UWN Interim Board of Directors

Lance Davisson (Chair); Andy Trotter (Vice Chair); Paul Morrison (Secretary / Treasurer); Joe Lehnen; Rick Siewert; Jennifer Alger; Dwayne Sperber; Paul Hickman

Interim UWN BOD Advisors

John Melvin, Amanda Egan, Charlie Becker, Scott Altenhoff

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Announcing the 2024 Urban Wood Network educational webinar series!

Starting January 10, 2024 from 12-1pm Central Time, the UWN Education Committee will host its first in a series of monthly education webinars/programs to: educate members on current topics in urban wood, identify opportunities to collaborate between various industry sectors, highlight how to utilize the UWN to develop your business, and more!

Register for the January webinar here

●      There is a small webinar fee to support this monthly webinar series and help raise funding to support the growth of UWN

○       Non-members will pay a registration fee of $15

○       SAF and UWN members will receive a discount code via email, reducing the registration fee to $10/webinar

UWN Member & Partner Highlights

In past UWN newsletters we have always included a member highlight. We’d love your feedback on this member highlight section and for you to submit fun stories and updates from your efforts as a UWN member for future newsletters. If you have ideas or updates to share, please send them via email to info@urbanwoodnetwork.org.

This month’s highlights include two recent urban forestry / urban wood events that UWN participated in over this past fall season: The World Forum on Urban Forests in Washington, DC and The Urban & Community Wood Academy in Memphis, Tennessee.

World Forum on Urban Forests

Several members of the Interim Board of Directors participated in the World Forum on Urban Forests in Washington, DC in October – learn more here. We were there with over 1,000 urban forestry stakeholders from across the world and had an opportunity to participate in a tour of the Casey Trees Farm in Berryville, Virginia where they’re building-out an urban wood recycling program in partnership with Washington DC. Throughout our time together in DC, it’s clear that the need and opportunity for recycling urban wood in the context of a full-circle urban forestry program is great. We’re all excited about how this conversation will continue to evolve not only in the US, but across the world.

UWN team members at the Casey Tree Farm in Berryville, VA

Urban and Community Wood Academy

This November several members of the Urban Wood Network participated in the USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Wood Academy in Memphis, Tennessee.  Alongside 50+ urban wood experts and eager novices, we participated in and helped facilitate conversations to learn, brainstorm and begin solving key challenges to scaling-up regenerative urban and community wood economies across the US. There was a strong focus on Tennessee and south eastern states and their potential to capture large volumes of hardwood and woody debris through innovative partnerships with State waste management agencies and strike teams; exploring biochar and composting for zero-waste facilities; expanding the demand-side market nationwide; and workforce development opportunities in this growing sector. The Academy included a tour and discussions about a zero-waste urban and community wood biomass campus developed by Urban Wood Economy and The Works Inc. in Memphis. We’re excited for Urban Wood Network to continue partnering with USDA Forest Service and stakeholders to offer this valuable academy in select locations across the US in 2024 and beyond. 

UWN Committee Updates

Executive Committee (Lance Davisson, Andy Trotter, Paul Morrison)

Our Executive Committee is busy finalizing a few key pieces of our organizational transition and building-out our initial 2024 budget, which will help guide the new Board of Directors (BOD) starting in January 2024. We are also leading the scoring and selection of the new BOD alongside 12 industry leaders and UWN members. Thank you to the 21 amazing leaders in urban wood who applied to support leadership of UWN. We’re excited about this UWN leadership growth and the upcoming announcement in January. 

Education Committee (Andy Trotter, Kanami Otani)

Our education committee has developed a robust 2024 educational webinar series in partnership with the Society of American Foresters (SAF). We’re excited for this added value that this series will provide for our members and industry stakeholders.

Marketing Committee (Rick Siewert, Paul Hickman, Dwayne Sperber)

Our marketing committee is busy preparing to lead the first UWN webinar session of our 2024 series on January 10, 2024 from 12-1pm Central Time “We are the Urban Wood Network, Inc – Navigating our origins, and charting a sustainable, resilient and enduring environmental response through urban wood utilization”.

●      Please join us for this discussion about how UWN has developed and is evolving to help market urban wood materials across the US - Register here.

Membership Committee (Dwayne)

Our membership committee is focused on bringing in membership fees, recruiting new members and enhancing membership services. Our team is currently updating several website functionalities to improve the member experience and simplify the ability to renew memberships. UWN currently has 259 members in our membership database, but unfortunately only 86 of those members are currently active and paid. This means that over 66% of our members have not paid their membership! Our organization relies on these membership fees to support programs and staffing, so please renew your membership and pay your membership fee so we can continue the important work of UWN in 2024 and beyond.

●      If you’re currently a member, but you have not yet paid your membership, please send an email to info@urbanwoodnetwork.org and we will send you an invoice and help you get your membership current.

●      If you are not yet a member and would like to join UWN, you can register to join here.

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Update on Urban Salvaged Reclaimed Wood (USRW) Standards Pilot



The USRW Certified Urban Wood Pilot Task Force has completed the process for piloting, and is now contacting “piloters” to begin testing. 

This USRW Pilot is an important step in developing a national standard for the urban wood industry that is both credible and transparent. This standard aims to be easily implementable and applicable to businesses of all sizes, fostering confidence, traceability, recognition, and ultimately promoting the increased utilization of this valuable natural resource.

Additional information is available on the USRW webpage, and if you have any questions or would like to be involved in this pilot you can contact Jennifer Alger via email at: info@urbansalvagedwoods.com.

Celebrating a fruitful 2023 and looking ahead to 2024!

In concluding a very active and fruitful 2023, we’d like to once again say THANK YOU to all of our members and supporters for sticking with us through the creation of a 501(c)3 organization that can serve our members and the industry. This year we did it! And we’re all very excited about what the future holds.

In 2024, you can expect to see a lot more engagement and action as we expand our leadership team and build the key components to retain, grow and serve our members.

Here are a few key highlights of what we’re look forward to:

●      On-boarding of our new Board of Directors and leadership team in mid-January! We were thrilled to receive 21 applications for a maximum of 11 positions on the BOD. Our application review team is currently finishing our selection process and the current interim BOD will appoint the new BOD during our January 3rd BOD meeting. You can look forward to hearing a public announcement in January.

○       As we bring on this new BOD, we’d like to first thank the interim BOD for their commitment and time spent to lead UWN through this transition

○       We’d also like to invite our members to look for opportunities to serve and support the new BOD as they begin in January. We anticipate a call for volunteer committee support sometime in February.

●      UWN Monthly webinar sessions – be sure to save the second Wednesday of every month, from 12-1pm Central Time on your calendars every month to join this series!

●      Finally, if you’re interested in providing an end of year gift to support the Urban Wood Network and our growth in 2024, here is a link.

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A Huge Thank You to our Sponsors!

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