巴尔的摩像许多后工业城市一样，面临新颖的挑战。巴尔的摩的人口曾经是美国第六大城市，签约了三分之一以上a complex suite of factors including job loss, economic decline, and歧视性policies or住房和贷款实践es。据估计至少16,000 buildings巴尔的摩被登上；大多数人计划拆除。但是其他人看到疫病的地方Baltimore Wood Project看到机会。

巴尔的摩可持续发展办公室Waste to Wealth Initiative与包括美国森林服务局在内的合作伙伴合作，试行一个旨在从建筑物和城市树木中挽救木材的项目。巴尔的摩木材项目旨在减少垃圾填埋场，创造就业机会，补充市政库，并吸引当地社区，同时鼓励环境可持续性，并向其他城市展示概念的可行性。

巴尔的摩绿空间的图像，安东尼·G·雷耶斯/弗里克尔
巴尔的摩绿空间的图像，安东尼·G·雷耶斯/弗里克尔

Buildings like the vacant row houses in Baltimore can be demolished, but they can also be deconstructed to salvage the materials. The salvaging process requires much more time and labor than demolition. For Baltimore--a city with anunemployment rate of nearly 5%，爬到15％或更多在某些社区和贫困率nearly doublethe national average--this presents an opportunity. The project partnered withHumanim，一个非营利组织，帮助为有障碍的居民找到工作，例如前监狱囚犯。自2012年以来，Humanim已雇用more than 150 low-income residents and generated more than $4 million in sales from recovered wood。在巴尔的摩，人类证明该模型可以起作用, in a way that includes underrepresented groups and creates opportunities for workforce development and leadership.

开垦后，项目过程的成员并将其重新利用在closed loop systemthat contributes to a sustainable, networked regional economy. Since many of the row houses were built more than 100 years ago,much of the reclaimed wood is valuable, old-growth lumber。由于这个时代的建筑商使用了从维尔京森林收获的木材，因此许多木材更强壮，对腐烂具有更大的抵抗力，这是当今罕见的做法。可持续的家具制造商现在使用这种木材在高端家具中。Rural communities in the northeastern U.S. also purchase the wood.

拆除后，巴尔的摩伍德项目与另一个非营利组织公园和人民基金会合作，创建了一些枯萎的建筑物曾经站立的绿色空间。社区花园和绿地的共同管理可能会增加社会凝聚力并促进社区发展。

但是该项目的范围扩大了填海范围：巴尔的摩，像数十个城市一样，也用有效的方法来管理其城市木材废物。除了建设和拆除外，其中包括受损或死街的树木和院子装饰。木材废物对720十亿吨the world’s cities generate every year. In 2015, U.S. landfills took in more than22 million tons of wood waste和yard trimmings, plus nearly 40 million tons more from construction and demolition. The USDA Forest Service estimated that in 2000, the volume of urban wood waste even exceeded the volume of timber harvested from national forests. A2019 study suggests that the potential value of this woody biomass ranges from $79 to $786 million annually in the U.S., depending on re-utilization strategy.

The city previously dumped wood waste atCamp Small, a collection yard. Every year, the city paid around $60,000 to remove some of the debris and left the rest to decompose. But brush cut from dead or damaged trees within the city holds potential: it can be transformed into wood chips for mulch. With an Innovation Fund loan from the city, the Department of Parks and Recreation’s Division of Forestry began the Camp Small Zero Waste Initiative, which sorts the waste more effectively and diverts it from landfills. Now, the city offers the mulch for public purchase and provides it to city agencies and community non-profits at no cost. In a partnership with a local sawmill and American Forests, Camp Small also processes suitable trees into lumber, slabs and firewood for local and national retail. Baltimore eliminated the $60,000 annual expense and instead generates revenue through sales and savings.

尽管该项目的包容性和对创造就业机会的重视使它与众不同，但巴尔的摩并不孤单地在重新使用城市木材中。在Lagos, Nigeria, nearly 300,000 tons of wood waste are generated each year—and to deal with the volume, open burning of waste is common. But more and more, Lagos is using the wood in creative ways: turning it into sawdust as bedding for chickens or using it as fuel for cooking, which can relieve pressure on surrounding forests.

Washington, D.C. is piloting another innovative wood reuse initiative:公立学校可以要求木材产品就像由城市回收树制成的长凳和木屑一样。在加利福尼亚，萨克拉曼多的城市木救援计划offers private landowners the opportunity to donate salvaged logs from yard trees, offering a tax deduction equivalent to the estimated value of the log. Finally, Baltimore is working with other communities across the nation to exchange knowledge and best practices through the annualUrban Wood Academy。

在缩小城市预算中寻找城市森林计划的资金可能很棘手，而衰老和患病的树木的管理和清除可能会给居民和地方政府带来负担。越来越多的证据表明，城市森林和木材再利用倡议是可靠的经济投资，具有长期的环境和社会回报。城市木材再利用计划的收入和公共支持可能会提供一种创造性的方式来帮助城市森林资助并减少废物生产的繁重负担 - 他们可能会在此过程中创造一个更具韧性的社区。

城市4Forestsis proud to have Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, California as founding members. Cities4Forests is an international initiative focused on helping cities better conserve, manage and restore forests.