Those visiting Lewisville Park north of Battle Ground within the past two weeks have likely heard the whine of a portable sawmill as Brian Trembley transforms fallen trees from a winter windstorm into lumber for future Clark County park benches, tables and rails.
Most of the logs came from Otto Brown Neighborhood Park south of the Hockinson area after a late December windstorm toppled trees across Clark County. Rather than turning the wood into firewood, Clark County Public Works hired Trembley to mill the logs into usable lumber that will eventually support projects throughout the county parks system.
Trembley, owner of Sticks Milling, began work around April 27 and expected to finish by Friday, May 8, or soon after at press time.
“This job, when I started the estimate, was 20,000 board feet, so for a guy like me, that’s a big job,” Trembley said.
Trembley has operated his portable sawmill business for 23 years, traveling throughout the Pacific Northwest to cut lumber for customers. His Wood-Mizer sawmill is among the largest portable models available.
“I can flip the log whatever way I want,” Trembley said. “I have programmable feed up and down, so I can make a consistent board. It’s got all the bells and whistles.”
Clark County staff previously worked with Trembley on similar milling projects and brought him back because of the quality of his work, Jeremy Stevens, a Lewisville Park employee, told The Reflector.
Milling the lumber locally allows the parks department to save money and use storm-damaged trees that would otherwise go unused, Stevens said.
“It benefits parks directly,” Stevens said. “He’s done some bench boards, table boards and rails. That’s mostly it, because it’s so expensive to buy this kind of odd-shaped dimensions.”
The lumber will dry at Lewisville Park before county crews process it for use throughout the park system. Some of the wood will likely replace aging benches and tables, while other lumber may support future projects, according to Stevens.
“It was one of those perfect storms of wet saturated soil and then high winds,” Stevens said. “So it’s (from) a combination of that that we lost a lot of trees,” Stevens said.
Much of Trembley's career has focused on helping people preserve memories and craft lasting projects from meaningful trees and logs. He said the most rewarding part of his work is seeing what customers eventually build from the wood he cuts.
“I might drive home, and I might knock on somebody’s door I cut for two years ago, and they’re happy to see me, and they say, ‘Come on back, let me show you what I built,’” Trembley said. “It’s great.”
Trembley said seeing Clark County trees turned into benches and tables for local residents makes this project especially meaningful.
“From the county, for the county,” Trembley said. “All local taken to finished form, and guess what? The public gets to enjoy the finished product.”
The Reflector previously featured Trembley and his long-running effort to build a Victorian-style bed-and-breakfast home. That project is still ongoing. Readers can learn more at shorturl.at/RT0CR. More information about Trembley’s milling business is available at sticksmilling.com.
