Last October was really stormy in the Italian alps and it destroyed large amounts of old spruce trees suitable for instrument tops. A (wood dealing?) company is trying to recover as much as possible of the wood, but they are seeking for more money and started a crowdfundining initiative:
http://www.ciresafiemme.it/component/co ... ivari.html#
Here a quote from the page
The extremely stormy weather that at the end of October struck the forests of the Femme Valley, in some areas in altitude damaged also the resonance spruces, uprooting the trees. These perfect logs, grown for 150-200-250 years with very fine and straight grain, are used for making musical instruments.
They are quite rare: only a few among the spruces have the right characteristics for the music.
...
For this reason we have decided to promote this Crowdfunding “Save the Stradivarius’ tonewood “, asking people very sensitive to music and to nature to help us in this purpose. There are two modalities/ categories : Luthiers and ... Private citizens ...
