Then the call came in to her husband, artist Pat Kramer, about a Norfolk Island pine more than 100 feet tall that fell at the Wahiawa State Recreation Area during the Jan. 14 storm. Kramer drove up to Wahiawa, filled up his van with the best cuts from the fallen tree and began transforming them into bowls that went on display at the Punahou Carnival.

"Whenever the storms start to blow, we think some trees are going to come down," Doughtie said.

"... Sometimes they can be really gorgeous."

All year, a loose network of artists and tree salvagers waits for word of a worthy monkeypod, mango, milo, kamani, golden primavera or pheasant-wood tree that might have fallen or needs to be cut down.

But the winter storms that hit the Islands in the past several weeks have kept the artists and salvagers busier than usual and made available cuts from huge, magnificent trees — wood that they might not otherwise see.

One of those trees — a 40-foot milo — fell near the No. 1 tee just a week before the start of the Sony Open at the Waialae Country Club and had to be removed in a hurry.

Dr. Dale Adams, an internist by day who runs his own tree salvage company on the side, and his wood-carving artist friend, Bob Butts, worked with a tree-trimming company to haul away the tree and its wood in just two days.

Butts hopes to produce

at least one 40-by-40-inch bowl from the best cuts of milo.

"As far as size goes," Butts said, "it's something spectacular."

Bart Potter, who is considered the dean of O'ahu tree salvagers, called the milo tree "a significant find in and of itself."

He explained: "Milo trees are usually pretty healthy and not cut down lightly. (Furniture and art from) a milo tree like the one that fell in Wai'alae will show up in many, many galleries."

The effort to identify, cut and cart away quality wood is technically known as "urban salvage" or "single-tree salvage" and didn't exist 20 years ago.

The handful of people who do it on O'ahu came to it through a combination of callings: the artists' endless search for quality material; the salvagers' desire to supply a small market for high-quality wood; and the goal of reducing the amount of rubbish sent to O'ahu's landfills.

For Adams, the work is driven more by passion than by profit.

"The intention is to save trees of furniture quality that have to come down," Adams said. "You ease into it and you get way over your head and then you get obsessed with it and it gets out of control."

Collectively, the salvage work has created new demand for other types of wood grown in Hawai'i and also taken pressure off highly prized koa trees, said Steve Smith, president of the Hawaii Forest Industry Association.

Rockers made of mango wood didn't exist 20 years ago but are now common and a popular item at the association's annual wood show held in September, Smith said.

"Koa's a wonderful, world-class wood," Smith said. "But we also have lots of other world-class woods in Hawai'i."

Tree salvagers such as Potter and Adams typically help professional tree trimmers or state or city work crews cut up the trees, pick the best cuts of wood and then haul them away for possible sale to artists.

The professional tree trimmers benefit by reducing the amount of waste they have to transport to landfills. And lower weight means cheaper landfill costs, or "tipping fees."

Adams and Potter are well-known in tree-cutting circles and have to check out lots of unworthy trees for the few that will end up as high-quality furniture and art.

"I get calls from tree people, woodworkers and people who know what kind of obsession I have," said Adams, who has his own medical practice in Kailua. "I've got spies out there who report when they hear a tree's coming down or there's going to be some construction."

Adams started his O'ahu Tree Recycling operation 10 years ago. He wanted to retrieve what he could from a grove of 15 Chinese mango trees — each more than 100 feet tall — that were coming down along Kahekili Highway in Kane'ohe to make way for H-3 Freeway.

"Beautiful mango trees were being ground up because no one was set up to recycle them," Adams said. "I worked with the contractor and got some, but not before they chunked up and ground up a bunch of 'em."

Over the years, tree salvagers such as Butts used to hope during each storm that certain trees would come crashing down.

They never did.

"It was a waste of time," Butts said. "I used to always go out after a storm and check on my favorite trees to see if they'd blown over. The things were always still standing. ...

"Even after Hurricane 'Iniki, I went over to Kaua'i and beautiful trees would still be there. I'd say, 'Gee, how did that tree survive all of that?' "

So back in Kailua, Doughtie just waits out each storm, thinking of what kind of wood delivery will end up next in her yard.

"When storms start to blow, I know some tree somewhere's going to come down,' " Doughtie said. "I just hope it's going to be a good one."