Dear Friends and Customers,
As we leave 2015 behind us, our company would like to thank you for your continued patronage and support! As you know, we are a small business, and we pride ourselves on doing exceptional work that helps our local economy and contributes positively to the ecologies of the forests of California and the world.
Events in the past couple of years have led to the arrival of two enormous sources of inventory at the Crossroads Recycled Lumber yard. The first, and most exciting, is the arrival of timbers and decking from the Port of Oakland, the former Oakland Army Depot.
The quality and historic value of this wood cannot be overstated. This lumber expands our current inventory by half! It includes several hundred thousand board feet of Douglas Fir 2×6″ and 2×8″ Tongue & Groove Decking, plus beams at 4×12″x22′, 6×6″, 6×12″, and 10×22″ at 31′ and 32′ in length. Negotiations for procuring this wood took several years and a heck of a lot of work from our owner, Marc, who monitored parts of this project since 2007 and worked with the demolition crew during part of the tear down. Watch StopWaste.org’s video about the beginning of the project!
The second new addition is the arrival of many thousands of board feet of Rescued Standing Dead Pine from our local forests, both state and privately owned. The Pine makes beautiful lumber that many very happy customers have used in the past. Unfortunately, the presence of this inventory is honestly us making the best of a sad and desperate situation.
Back in 2012, we published a feature about our inventory of Blue Stain Pine coming from an increasing number of Standing Dead trees in Sierra National Forest, behind our lumberyard. As the drought has continued, the situation has only gotten worse. Crossroads is working with private landowners and PG&E foresters to harvest these trees while they are still usable in order to reduce fuels for future forest fires and reduce danger to life and property from falling trees.
Both of these sources of inventory have fascinating back stories, and are part of larger current events that, as lumber enthusiasts, we are excited to share with you over the coming months. So stay tuned! And from all of us at Crossroads, have a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous 2016!
Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
The Crossroads Team
