This month's presentation

We will meet at an outdoor location, so to take advantage of daylight we will start at 6:30.

We will meet at the lumber mill of P.A.L. Foundation (www.recycletrees.org/). Our host will be the founder, Marcus von Skepsgardh. Most wood we deal with as woodworkers comes from a forest somewhere but the wood that PAL mills is from urban/suburban trees that would otherwise end up as firewood or in the sanitary land fill or dump. Using a big truck equipped with a boom, Marcus collects huge trunks and takes them to his Oakland facility for milling, drying and in some cases turned into flooring boards. We will get a tour of this facility and all operations of the organization. There is no meeting room on site so be prepared (not sandals) to walk around this industrial/mill site. In the formative days of this work Marcus secured some grants, including the one that allowed him to buy the boom truck, from the funding involved in the new solid waste laws in California. That is because his work prevents large quantities of wood (waste) from reaching the dumps. His dried and milled wood is for sale and he has many interesting species. This will be one of our shortest meetings in quite a while as there is no indoor meeting room so when the tour is over - before dark - we can either break up or find a restaurant. If a nearby place can be found to meet from say 8:45 to 9:45 it will be announced at the meeting.

(In case you're confused, PAL is not associated with the PALS lumberyard --- despite having a very similar name, a similar concern for the ecosystem, and being located near two of the PALS lumberyards.)

Meeting Location

[Caution from Jamie... This place is easy to get to -- if you know where it is. If you attempt to find it by hunting, you may have trouble -- I certainly did. This area of Emeryville and Oakland is cut up by railroads and freeways. Sometimes you just can't get there from here, or even figure out where there is. So pay attention to the driving directions which PAL has provided!]

From Downtown Oakland:
Go West on West Grand. Cross Mandela Parkway and continue on West Grand, as it becomes an overpass. At the bottom of the overpass, turn right onto Wake Avenue and you will see our yard on the left hand side at 2201 Wake Avenue.

From The North:
Take 80 West past Berkeley. At the 80/580 split, stay right and take 80 West to San Francisco. Just after the split, take the West Grand/Maritime Street (last exit before the toll plaza). At the end of the off-ramp, take a left onto Wake Avenue and you see our yard on the left hand side at 2201 Wake Avenue.

From San Francisco:
Take 80 East over the Bay Bridge. Take your first exit after crossing the Bay Bridge at the Alameda/West Grand exit. This off ramp will split up again towards Alameda and West Grand. Take the West Grand exit. At the end of the off-ramp, take an immediate left on Wake Avenue and you will see our yard on the left hand side at 2201 Wake Avenue.

From 580 North:
Take 580 to 80 West towards San Francisco. After the junction with 80 West, stay right and take the West Grand/Maritime Street exit (last exit before the toll plaza). At the end of the off-ramp, take a left onto Wake Avenue and you will see our yard on the left hand side at 2201 Wake Avenue.

From 880 North:
Take the 7th Street/Maritime exit. At the end of the off-ramp, go straight and proceed along the frontage road to the next intersection (West Grand). Take a left onto West Grand. At the next intersection take a left onto Wake Avenue and you will see our yard on the left hand side at 2201 Wake Avenue.