Entrepreneurs in urban areas are starting to do urban logging and urban farming within big cities, something which helps both the cities and the forests.
Trees in urban areas need to be logged for any number of reasons. Instead of burning or mulching them, some are using these trees for lumber. Urban Timberworks creates furniture from such wood. They chop down trees and haul them away for free, saving homeowners and businesses money. Taking this one step further, some envision vacant city lots being used to grow trees for lumber.
“Growing trees in the city for lumber takes logging pressure off our wild forests,” he says. “There is a smaller carbon footprint when trees are cut down, taken a few miles to a mill and used in the neighborhood.”
Hantz Farms in Detroit is already doing this, and more. They plan to grow trees commercially and farm on 10,000 acres of currently abandoned land in Detroit which they will buy from the city. They already are doing it successfully on 200 acres and those who live nearby are happy that someone is taking dead, seriously dangerous areas and making them safer and productive again.