My name is Sawyer and I’m a high school senior from New York.

Invasive Skate began while I was researching locations for a proposed skatepark in my town and learned of the invasive Norway maple trees that had invaded my local woods. These Norway maple trees were cutting off sunlight for other plants and disrupting our local ecosystem. I saw my town cut down dozens of these trees as a way to mitigate their harm, but I also couldn’t help but notice the waste that was left behind. With a wooden skateboard under my feet, I came up with an idea: transform these Norway maple trunks into skateboard decks. From that, Invasive Skate was born.

Through a science research class at my high school, I was able to research the potential of invasive Norway maple to replace the native old growth maple that skateboards are traditionally made from. With promising results, I went on to use traditional skateboard deck manufacturing methods with the wood from the invasive Norway maple (check out the process below).

The result? High-quality, eco-friendly skateboard decks that preserve native trees.