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getting a top-of-the-line product with no holes," he said.

To stimulate demand, the association has begun directing promotional efforts towards contractors and consumers, convinced that retailers will sell what their customers ask for. Unfortunately, many don't ask for cedar because they think it's not available. But, Furtado said, "there's still clear cedar around. People say, 'I didn't know you could get that quality.' But there's plenty of supply."

It is a tricky business for the mill. The cedar manufacturer, especially "the small U.S. producer, really doesn't control his own availability, quality or price," said Bob Walton, Caffall Bros. Forest Products, Wilsonville, Or. "It's a developing species in the logging mix. It grows and is harvested sporadically. You don't go out and cut large stands of cedar."

tem of long-term tenure tree farm licenses and a long-term commi0nent to the industry on the part of the govemment.

Finally, WRCLA explored offering warranties on cedar siding. "Berause of the warranties offered on preprimed, cedar substrate siding, some manufacturers felt some kind of warranty on actual cedar siding would be nice," said Furtado. "But we concluded that we as an industry could not put a warranty on a product. If an individual member wants to, that's up to him. But in order to offer a warranty, every single piece has to have the mill number stamped on it, and if you buy appearance lumber for a deck, you don't want a stamp on it."

"A warranty is a gimmick, anyway. Because with most products, you try to collect on a warranty, good luck," Furtado revealed, while conceding that to the public, the perception is all that counts.

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It's a challenge, but mills realize they must be able to offer wide availability to meet dealers demands for just-in-time delivery. Restrictions on federal, state and private lands have made it difficult for some U.S. firms to get logs, admitted WRCLA's Ken McClelland. Decreasing harvest levels are tightening the overall supply and driving up stumpage costs.

In Florida, cedar sales flat.

Fascia hurt by substitut€s.

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Yet, in British Columbia, there is a different sys-