The guild is proud of the work done to build and sustain this most creative project. Unique in Western Canada, the goal of the program is to intervene when diseased or downed trees are disposed of. Working closely with municipal employees and private donors, we are able to "save" these trees from the fire-pit. The father of this program is Doug Rhodes and with many active guild supporters the program is more active than ever.

Vancouver Island is blessed with a wealth of tree varieties and sizes. Over the past few years we have processed over 25,000 board feet of Pacific Yew, Black Locust, Douglas Fir, White Oak, London Plane, English Oak, Cedar of Lebanon, Cherry, Horse Chestnut, Plum, Walnut and Garry Oak.

The best use for each tree and tree segment is determined and with careful processing, grading, cutting and drying value is maximized.

After our out of pocket costs have been recovered, we donate furniture quality wood to the woodworking programs of Victoria area middle and high schools as well as the Camosun College Fine Woodworking program. We aim to have about fifteen percent of the program assets directed to the educational institutions.

Every year, municipalities, landscapers, and property owners remove trees that have very good to excellent main trunk and main branch sections that could be milled into useable products for local craftsmen. However, salvaging this wood is not an easy job and it can be costly for an individual.

How the Program Operates:

1. We find out about and take possession of the salvageable tree parts, and truck them to a safe place.
2. We seal the end grain and otherwise protect the tree parts from degradation before milling.
3. When enough tree parts have accumulated to make milling and kiln drying worthwhile, we engage a sawmill operator to custom mill planks and boards for us.
4. Guild members may buy the wood green and take it away at that point – price to cover the costs of transporting and milling the wood plus extra for school donation.
5. We may truck the wood to a kiln and dry it, although some local woods are best air dried which can take up to five years.
6. Guild members can buy the wood at that point and take it away – price to cover costs of capture, milling, trucking, kiln drying plus extra for school donation.

Our Criteria for Trees:

• We leave the falling and trimming to trained tree service workers; we do not fell trees ourselves for safety and liability reasons.
  
• We enter onto private property only with permission of the owner
• Normally we use a crane truck to move the tree parts from their location to the mill site. This reduces potential damage to the property from which the tree came.

We deal with waste parts of trees that are already down and accessible by truck