There maybe no better representative of the phrase “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” than 65-year-old Elmer Long.

In a report from Al Jazeera English, Long has collected a bevy of trash items for over three decades and turned them into an exotic forest in California’s Mojave Desert.

Bottles, typewriters, surfboards and buffalo skulks are among the items gathered and assembled into unique structures by Long.

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“I’m a collector, that’s all,” he said. “I’ll hit the thrift shops, antique shops, once in a while, I’ll go out in the desert and find an old elm.”

WATCH: Video from Al Jazeera, which was published on January 7, 2012.