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Gnarbit™
While a tree is standing, owners and managers use inventory software and data systems to track its species, size, condition, location, and value. When the tree is removed, the record is closed. From that point on, the logs, branches, and other material are no longer tracked, documented, or reported. Wood from streets, campuses, construction sites, corporate properties, backyards, orchards, and storm cleanup goes to mulch and burn piles, bioenergy facilities, biochar producers, lumber mills, or landfills, and no record shows where it went. So owners can't show what their trees were worth, mills have trouble finding steady supply, and buyers can't confirm where a board came from.
Urban Ashes built Gnarbit to track urban and salvaged wood, sometimes called community wood, across the remainder of its life, from tree removal to finished product. Each log gets an identity at the removal site, and every move after that is recorded.
Chain-of-custody tracking for urban and salvaged wood, from removal to end product.
What makes Gnarbit different
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It starts at the stump. The record begins at the removal site, the moment a tree comes down, and is in place before the wood ever reaches a mill or yard.
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It serves the whole chain. Tree owners, removal crews, haulers, processors, and buyers all work from the same record. Each one sees the part of the story that matters to them.
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It is independent. Urban Ashes doesn't buy, sell, or hold wood. Gnarbit's only job is to keep an accurate record, so every partner can trust it, whoever ends up with the material.
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It is built for proof. Every entry is designed to stand up to review by owners, funders, auditors, and certification programs. Carbon and diversion figures are recorded at each step and travel with the wood.
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It works with what you already use. Gnarbit connects to existing tree inventory tools and can share its records with the business systems partners already run.
What Gnarbit tracks
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Where the wood came from. The removal project, the location (captured by GPS), and the date.
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What the material is. Species, dimensions, and form: logs, slabs, or lumber.
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What it looks like. Photos and field notes taken at the site.
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Its identity. A unique QR tag that stays with each piece.
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Every handoff. Who held the material, when it moved, and who received it next.
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Its environmental value. Carbon stored in the wood and the waste kept out of landfills, shown in everyday terms such as trees planted or materials recycled.
Why Gnarbit matters
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Trust - Buyers and specifiers can confirm where their wood came from, backed by a record that starts at the stump.
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Accountability - Owners can show residents, clients, funders, or shareholders what happened to the trees they removed.
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Value - Documented wood sells for more and is easier to place than undocumented wood.
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Supply - Mills and processors can see what material is coming and where it is.
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Climate reporting - Carbon and diversion figures are recorded as the wood moves, so nobody has to estimate them after the fact.
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Verification - Records are kept in a form that third-party auditors and certification programs can review.
Who is Gnarbit for
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Property owners and managers of any kind, public or private, who want to know what happens to the trees they remove
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Arborists, tree care companies, and land clearing contractors who want a simple way to record material on the job
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Developers and builders who are clearing sites and want to recover the wood instead of paying to dispose of it
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Mills and processors looking for reliable, documented supply
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Designers, specifiers, and buyers who want proof of where the wood they choose came from
The status of Gnarbit's rollout
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Gnarbit is in beta. Phase one follows material from removal to the processor, and several organizations are testing it now. Their field use is shaping the platform before its full release. Later phases will carry the record further, from drop-off through processing to the end product. The first log tagged in the field, an American elm from the Detroit area, is already in the system. Gnarbit is designed to work with the tree inventory tools organizations already use.
