SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Colby Albino at Well Rounded Wood Co. is salvaging logs from the Caldor Fire and giving them new life. In doing so, he hopes to redefine lumber sourcing regionally.

“Natural disasters happen and it is a significant thing to be able to salvage something from a natural disaster rather than letting it completely die,” Albino says. “It gives that tree, the spirit of the tree, a longer life to live on.”

The trees have taken on new life in the form of furniture, guitars, cabinets, wall paneling and lumber for both interior and exterior projects.

“It is really, really intimate to give it a new life rather than just the standing life,” he says, “it gets turned into something beautiful or something that holds family memories.”

Often these logs go to biomass centers and become pulp or chips, or get tossed into a landfill. His alternative provides a local future for the logs and keeps sourcing close by.

“My goal is to provide Lake Tahoe with local, rather than from some far flung region in the world,” he explains. “Everything is cut from down the street.”

Albino helped salvage logs from properties on Echo Summit and also allowed people to drop their own salvaged logs to him. It provided a cheaper option for those looking to offload the burned logs compared to hauling logs to biomass center. His company has salvaged 200 logs since the start of the endeavor.

Each salvaged log helps the community and helps the forest.

Additionally, Albino hopes to foster and grow the idea of supporting local timber use through other avenues. One such way is through urban logging and utilizing urban sawyers when trees are taken down for development. He says often those trees go to the landfill or get chipped. “We would love to have the ability to avoid that.”

He also wants to expand the industry standard from viewing a handful of species as valuable wood, to harnessing the benefits of other species. Albino says Lodgpole pine, for example, can have a higher density rating than Douglas fir, which can be useful for structural products.

Albino cut his teeth on craftsmanship at just 14 years old, shadowing a friend and his dad who were building skis in their garage. He became obsessed with making skis better, even going to length of asking people in lift lines if he could take a lap in their skis. One day he tried out the skis of someone who happened to be connected with Libtech/Mervin Manufacturing. This paved the way for Albino designing skis for the company until he was 24 years old.

“Those years grew my passion for building and designing.”

He gained valuable experience working as a carpenter for a local contractor and a grew inspired by a friend with a sawmill who turned out creative wood products.

Albino started Well Rounded Wood Co. in 2020 with an endless fascination surrounding timber. “I could spend a lifetime learning about wood.”

From ski design, carpentry, and cabinet making, to woodturning underneath his parent’s garage, his knowledge and affinity around forest products and design has continued to evolve.

“There’s so much involved in it, and I just passionately am in love with anything wood.”

You can visit Well Rounded Wood Co. in person at 800 Emerald Bay Rd in South Lake Tahoe, or online at wellroundedwoodco.com.