SIMI VALLEY, Calif. – Royal High School is working with its home city of Simi Valley. As the city takes down trees, they bring logs to the high school woodshop to be milled into usable lumber, and then distribute that lumber back into the community.

David Sorenson, woodworking instructor at Royal High School, discussed the Royal High School Urban Logging Initiative in a youtube video, https://youtu.be/YlpX2CJ9JwM

The use of the lumber mill, a Wood-Mizer LT15, led to the urban logging initiative. According to plaidtruth.com, the student news site of Royal High School, the high school wood shop department hosted the Urban Logging Initiative grand opening in May.

Sorenson explaining the initiative and thanked everyone who was involved. The Urban Logging Initiative is essentially a lumber mill run by students at Royal in partnership with Simi Valley Parks and Recreation. The idea of urban logging was first thought of by Sinaloa Middle School’s wood shop teacher, Bret Knizek.

plaidtruth.com

With the wood supplied by parks and recreation, trees that would have alternatively been sent to a landfill can now be made into lumber by Royal students, and put back into the community.

The lumber mill is also partnering with the RHS Environmental Science pathway to teach the students about sustainability and recycling.