Landscape Architect | Senior Project Manager, Botanical Gardens & Grounds, The Huntington
Thrilled to be featured in LAist alongside my co-conspirators Jeff Perry of Angel City Lumber, and Blake Jopling, landscape architect and Altadena native. In the wake of the devastating wildfires, Jeff conceived 'Altadena Reciprocity' - a community initiative that reclaims fire-damaged trees for rebuilding efforts - a vision Blake and I have been honored to help bring to life. By Jeff's estimates, there's abundant wood from damaged trees in both the urban forest and Angeles National Forest to support the ENTIRE rebuilding effort! Instead of watching these trees become mulch, we're hoping to transform them into affordable milling & structural lumber (potentially 30-40% savings!) while also eliminating tons of carbon emissions from long-haul trucking from Canada. We're still racing to coordinate salvage and storage with the Army Corps of Engineers, their subcontractors, and LA County, so we're not out of the woods yet (couldn't resist), but we're optimistic about saving ALL removed trees from the chipper! Once that's settled, we'll focus on scaling operations to prepare this lumber for the rebuild. The path ahead is daunting but clear, and I'm deeply hopeful about this initiative's success - a project that beautifully blends climate resilience, forest management, affordable housing, and workforce development into one powerful community solution that turns tragedy into transformation! We are grateful to have the support of many community-based organizations, arborists, designers, and activists, including Los Angeles Tomorrow, TreePeople, AIA Los Angeles, TERREMOTO LANDSCAPE, Craft Landscape Architecture, Studio Petrichor, Plant Material, among many others; if you are interested in joining our coalition to support or volunteer, please reach out! https://lnkd.in/ggpBAimC