Dexter Homeowner Says Fallen Trees Have New Purpose

Mary Spence's yard was heaped with cherry trees that fell at her Westridge neighborhood home during last year's tornado in Dexter.

"Our lot I think was one of the hardest hit. There was $21,000 worth of damage to it, but it was livable," she said.

She said the storm took out about one acre of the lot and only left around 12 trees standing. She said she didn't want the wood from the trees to be wasted. 

"But we couldn’t afford to have the lot cleared," she said.

A co-worker told Spence about Michigan company Urban Ashes, which creates hand-made furniture and frames out of salvaged wood from urban settings.

Spence said it sounded like a win-win situation and she invited Urban Ashes owner Paul Hickman to assess the trees.

[Read more about Urban Ashes and the frames they create.]

He took a look and said he could definitely use the wood, Spence said. 

Spence's home, in the back perimeter of the neighborhood, backs up against Hudson Mills Metropark. She connected Urban Ashes with people at the park, which had some of the most fallen trees in the area.

In addition to the six trees that were saved from Spence's yard, Hickman said 35 trees out of about 5,000 that had fallen in the park were salvaged.

"We talked about what more to do and said we’d really like to do something commemorative," Spence said.

Hickman said they aim to sell the frames made from the wood to Washtenaw County retailers and donate the funds to create a memorial for the lost trees in Hudson Mills Metropark. 

Urban Ashes also utilizes a transitional labor force, like workers from prison. Spence said she loved the idea that Hickman was putting people back to work.

"I thought the whole idea of what he was doing was something I could put my head around," she said.