Lumber industry anticiPates Northwest Timber Summit

Industry members and organizations were generally skeptical regarding President Clinton's decision to hold a Timber Summit in Portland, Or., April 2, as we went to Press. Details of the meeting will be covered in the May issue.

Vice President Al Gore, Agriculture Secretary Mike EsPY, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Labor Secretary Robert Reich and Environmental Protection Agency director Carol Browner were expected to join Clinton after spending time prior to the one day session in the Northwest visiting mills, timber communities and forests. The President will be enroute to an international summit with Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin in Vancurver, B.C.

"It's time to break the gridlock that has blocked action and bring all sides together to craft a balanced aPproach," Clinton said in a statement announcing the meeting.

Mark Rey, American Forest and Paper Association, said before the summit that the industry will support some land set-asides to protect the spotted owl and some Portion of the remaining unprotected ancient forest. But, in nrn, the indusry wants guarantees of a "reasonable" level of harvest and the rewriting of environrnental laws by Congress so that environmentalists cannot so easily challenge logging in the courts.

"The upcoming sumit will be an important catalyst for resolving the deepening forest crisis in the Northwest. The impact is being felt in the country as a whole with lumber prices increasing 90% since last October as a consequence of court injunctions, administrative appeals and other restrictions that have virually shut off a critical supply of timber from both Private and Public lands," he said.

Mike Draper, executive secretary of the Western Council of Industrial Workers, said environmentalists are "wrong to think we'll trade timber jobs for any jobs" and said the annual guaranteed harvest needs to be much larger than 1.5 billion board feet

The National Lumber & Building Materials Dealers Association, the National Association of Home Builders, the American Forest and

Paper Association and the United Brotherhood of Carpenten & Joiners of America held a Press briefing to call upon President Clinon to helP resolve the imPasse ova timber suP plies from fed€ral faests in tbe West.

Decisions made at the Summit will have an impact on the global environment as well as Oe U.S. forcsts interests, the Forest Producs Society said prior to the meeting, calling on Clinton ro include in the meeting as broad a discussion of environmental issues as possible.

FPS's Jim Bowyer Pointed out that a decision to produce significantly le.ss timber in the Northwest ultimately means tbat the U.S. will either have to obtain wood from someplace else' such as the far east€rn region of the fonner Soviet Republics, or will have to shift to the use of non-wood materials.

Industry ls Anti FramPton

An announcement in tbe tllashing' ton Post that Department of Interior head Bruce Babbitt could name current president of tbe Wilderness Society George T. FramPton, Jr., Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks raised industry hackles.

Thomas B. Williams, a senior staffer for the Senate EnergY Committec, resPonsible for its Subcommittee on Public Lands, National Parks and Forests, un&r tbe supervision of Dale Bumpers (D-Ar.), was also considered a candidate fc tbe position.

Industry members were urged to express opposition to FramPton's appoiDtment in iener to Congress and other govemment officials.

Because the U.S. is a net imPorter of viru,rally all categories of raw materials, including metals, petrochemicals (basis fa plastics), cements (key ingredient in concrete), wood and wood products, both qtions will also mean increases in raw material imports, Bowyer added.

He was emphatic that these kinds of linkage must be investigated. "Otherwise," he said, "we risk practicing the worst sort of regional environmentalism."

Yeu eAN DEPEND oN

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Hvsren Deelen FoR...

This part of vour income was paid by the forests of East Texas. It supports you...

...please support the protection and wise'use of the East Texas forests.

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Tape Takes Forest Story To Public

Members of the wood troducts industry are using the cassette tape "Iln A Trpe" and its presenation kit o help sudents and aduls understand the fore.st prodrrcts commmity and is stewardship of qrr nation's fqest lands.

Over 6,0(X) coples of tbe song have ben distributed by Norman Murray and the music divisim of U*C C-oatings Corp. in the past six months. The newly script€d renewable forest story pre.s€nation kit is designed fm the elem€ntary sctrml level, but can be adapted for adult groups. Kits can be obtained for $25 postpaid frw U*C Music Division, P.O. Box 1046, Buffalo, N.Y. 14215. Tapes re s2.75.

Public Favors Species Act Reform

The public wants fewer environmental regulations. With nearly 9,000 readers responding to U&{ Weeknd's 'Frc-offon tbe Enviromenl" 62qo ag1eed with an argument fc Endmgered Species Act reform.

The Sunday supplement presented viewpoints of Earth Day fouderDenis Hayes, wbo hvqpdmqepotection for endangered specias and a federal push for frrel efficient cars, and William Ferry Fen<ltey, a p(nctive atlofDey on behalf of land use rigbts, who argued fa reform of tbe Endangered Species Acq wise mrmg@ent of fqests o provide specifically for wood products and curbing envirmnenal litigation.

Calling m a 9(X) number, 8,914 peqle agreed nearly two to one that tbe environment dc not supersede all otber erthly ourceflts. Hayes reeived aproval ftom only 38%.

Fendley summed up the results, 'If Clintm hes a madale, itis to suengtban the ecooony, not tobeashrp otbe sky-is-falling, mankind-is-a-canoer-on-the-planet rhetoric of environmental groups."

Contractors Consider Alternatives

With rising prices and diminishing supplies of lumber, contractors are considering alternative materials for framing.

More engineered wood products are being specified. Although they cost more than dimensional lumber, their consistent quality without warping and twisting saves labor costs and callbacks. Many require less field cutting and enable builders to achieve special effecs such as longer spans and higher ceilings. Sales are climbing fast with a 1607o lrowrh anticipated by 2000.

More worrisome to those firnly entrenched in lumber sales are developing signs of builders' willingness to use light gauge steel as framing materid. At a recent National Association of Home Builders meeting in Las Vegas, Nv.,407o showed interest in using engineered wood with 97o opting to ry steel.

So far steel studs have been used to frame only abott 3Vo of the homes built in this country, but steel scrap was used to frame a recently completed test home consEucted in Bowie,

Md., by NAHB. A few Oklahoma and West Coast builders are using steel with o0ers said to be considering a switch.

The disadvantage of high material cost is thought !o be offset by price stability. Although most builders and subcontractors are not familiar with steel, its resistance to shrinking and warping, light weight and capability of being preassembled off site are attractive. Some feel fire resistant qualities will appeal to consuners.

Negatives that can be overcome are said to be teaching framers to work with screws and screw guns instead of hammers and nails and processing pemrits individually because most residential building codes don't cover steel constnrction.

Adams Build America in Dundee, Fl., is a retailer detemrined to get a jump on the competition. I-ast month president Greg Adans invited over 100 builders to his store for a steel stud conference including a framing demonstration.