New life for Katrina trees.

Hundreds of uprooted live oak trees are just one of the many devastations caused by Hurricane Katrina, but this cloud may have a silver lining. The timber will be put to use in restoring one of the world's last wooden whaling ships, the Charles W. Morgan. According to Quentin Snediker, shipyard director at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, live oak was the best timber for ship building in the era of those wooden vessels because of its durability, density, and curves that perfectly suit the ship's form.

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Snediker was at first hesitant to ask residents of the Gulf area, who had suffered so much, to donate their uprooted trees. But many hurricane victims contacted him on their own, hoping to see something positive spring from the catastrophic losses inflicted by the storm.

"The fact that we are able to salvage the material from the storm brings a little bit of good in light of the terrible human tragedy," says Snediker.