Every tree tells a story. The question is whether we treat it like a resource or throw it away like waste.

In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger welcomes John Melvin, Assistant Deputy Director of Resource Protection and Improvement at CAL FIRE. The two have worked together in the urban wood movement for over 15 years, and this conversation traces the journey from its earliest days to a program now granting hundreds of millions of dollars.

A central theme is language. John makes the case that calling removed urban trees "waste" teaches the public to see them as garbage. Reframing the conversation around resource and value opens doors for municipalities to build wood utilization into their arborist service contracts, saving disposal costs while keeping material out of landfills.

He walks through CAL FIRE's role in building the urban wood industry from the ground up, starting in the late nineties with five mobile sawmills and four dehumidification kilns made from converted shipping containers. Those early investments seeded real businesses and put a sawmill at Palomar College that still runs today. As the program grew, CAL FIRE funded urban wood utilization grants and backed the creation of the USRW Certified Urban Wood Standards.

Today the scope is enormous. John highlights the green schoolyards initiative transforming over 170 paved campuses into outdoor learning spaces with tree canopy and urban wood features. He also discusses AB 2251, the legislative mandate to increase California's urban tree canopy by ten percent by 2035, and a forthcoming strategic plan to get there.

Chapters

00:00 Growing Up in the Woods and Choosing Forestry

03:17 Losing a Childhood Home in the Caldor Fire

10:00 Municipalities, Cost Avoidance, and Policy Solutions

16:28 Why Standards Matter for Urban Wood

22:25 How CAL FIRE Built the Urban Wood Industry from Five Sawmills

31:09 Green Schoolyards and AB 2251

38:15 Legacy: Helping People See the Bigger Picture

40:24 One Small Change Everyone Can Make

The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger

For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com

See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com

Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io

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You can connect with John at:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-melvin-7a5118275/