Redwood lumbet lrom Simpson...

Simpson redwood lumber is the naturally perfect building material. So don't be surprised when your customers keep asking for more in 1977. Architects and builders have discovered redwood's natural beauty and design latitude. And do-it-yourselfers have found that redwood's durability makes it the perfect building material for decks, fences, planter boxes and other yard and garden needs.

Simpson redwood lumber is available in a wide range of patterns, grades and sizes, tooso you can answer a variety of your customers' needs -whether it's an order for redwood 2x4's to build a fence or Rul-Sawn V-joint Tongue and Groove redwood for siding a new townhouse comolex,

So if you'd like a chance to increase your profits in 1977,look to the natural seller-Simpson redwood lumber from Simpson Building Supply Company. Give us a calltoday.

I I THOEVER said, "lr isn't nice to Y Y fool Mother Nature?"

At Simpson Timber Company's Korbel, Ca., forestry operations, it is hoped some well-planned intrusions into the private lives of timber-yielding redwood and Douglas-fir will be a profitable experience.

Company reforestation specialists are applying the science of genetics in the form of selective breeding to insure increasingly productive timberland.

Selective tree-breeding is similar to hybridizing corn to grow more kernels per ear or raising a horse to win the Kentucky Derby. In any stand of equal age trees, a small percentage will stand taller and healthier than their neighbors simply because of natural variation. However, the application of that knowledge to improve the timber resource is a longterm proposition which is brand new to the field of commercial forest management.

Science and the redwoods

Story at a Glance

The science of genetics as applied to redwood by 1990 foresters hope to produce seed capable of growing trees 50% faster than contemporary young growth trees.

Reforestation Supervisor Jim Rydelius, a graduate of Humboldt State and Yale Universities and former researcher under redwood expert Emanuel Fritz, has been responsible for Simpson's redwood region resource renewal for l0 years. Now he and his assistants are developing outstanding coastal redwood and Douglas-fir which will subsequently be parents to improved generations.

The breeding program begins with careful selection of the handful of young trees which exhibit desirable traits such as superior volume and height growth. Less than 0.10% qualify as true "plus" trees in an area of uniform soil type and stand age. The selected trees must pass a test requiring, among other considerations, that they stand at least 2O% larger than their contemporaries.

Then foresters must separate their genetic composition to allow for artificial manipulation of the pollination process. This is done by shooting off the tips of the uppermost branches with telescopic sight-equipped rifles or shotguns.

Redwood branch tips are planted in individual "tube" containers of moist, sandy soil. With heat to warm the soil and some greenhouse coddling, the redwoods quickly form roots. Eventually, they are transplanted to a seed orchard to continue developing into breeding stock. Because Douglas-fir cuttings are difficult to root, their branch tips (called scions) are grafted onto compatible root stock.

Once the rooted redwood and grafted fir are established in seed orchards, they will begin to produce bulk seed which is expected to grow trees 15Vo - 20% faster than the average dominant trees in today's young growth forests. Rydelius predicts that within five years, Simpson's redwood seed orchards will yield enough seed to stock the Korbel Forest Nursery annually.

The research foresters are also establishing a breeding orchard to control the cross pollination process among the selected trees to develop seedlings of known pedigree. These will be planted in progeny test plots where each young tree's performance will be compared with others. This will enable the scientists to identify which trees transmit the most favorable growth traits on to future generations.

The progency tests will be started in 1980. "At that point," Rydelius says, "we will be well down the road toward making our next genetic gain. By 1990 we should have the confidence to select trees for seed capable of growing 50% fasler than contemporary young growth trees."

The results of these breeding efforts will multiply as new genes are continually introduced through the selection of more plus trees to further upgrade the improved forest stock. He believes this program will eventually yield coastal redwood and Douglas-fir planting stock growing twice as fast as the seedlings set out today.

Undeniably, Simpson's tree-breeding "fools" with Mother Nature's routine. But, like any mother, she should be proud to see her progeny growing faster in future years as the thoroughbred product of tree breeding specialists.

To no one's surprise, housing start figures nationally took a nose dive, reflecting the brutal winter weather in the Northeast and North Central states . with drought induced mild weather in most Western area$, the West droppedamere2%...

The sharpest mo,-to-mo. drop in history was recorded as figures fell 27% from Dec.-Jan. (latest available nos.) the seasonally adjusted annual pace was 1,375,000, down from Dec.'s 1,884,000 which was the highest rate in almost 3 years

The West accounted for 47Vo of all starts and had adjusted start and permit rates of nearly 600,000 units nationally, building permits were off less drastically than starts: down 14% from Dec., but still 14% above the year earlier.

Weather's effect on total '77 starts is still to be determined, but many forecasters are revising figures downward, but that opinion is by no means unanimous Advance Mortgage Co. sees '77 as "another year of spectacular housing growth in Califomia;" they note it accounted for a full ll4 of the national recovery from '75. Denver & Phoenix builders "reported excellent Dec. & exceptional Jan." business, the report concluded.

Final housing start figs. for '76 show 4 of the top l0 home building regions in the U.S. were in So. Ca.; in the final quarter housing was up an amazing 76%. .. in the 4th quarter, L.A./Long Beach lead the U.S. in housing production.

Trend Alhlilood Products' sales office has been movEd from Arcata, Ca., to Portland, it remains a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trend Industrjes and sells all the production of the Trend mill at Blue Lake, Ca.,;manning the Portland office are Jack Nozel, Bill Monahan and Greg Chase.

Richard J. Blinkhorn, Concord, Ca., a former trader fot North Paciftc Lumber Co., Portland, has filed a $2.5 million invasion of privacy suit alleging the company secretly lietened in on telephone conversations; included in the civil suit are North Pacific, four of its officers and Pacific Northwest Bell (see The Merchant, Jan. p. 19 for related story)..

Also pending is a suit by Douglas David, the president of Nor Pac, against two other directors asking them to return more than $578,000 in alleged illegal payments made by the firmsince'66...

Redwood Empire icc. is moving into enlarged new quarters in Morgan Hill, Ca., according to Roger Burch; included is a big new warehouse, handsome new offices . . Louisiana-Pacific has closed its Fort Bragg, Ca., plywood mill permanently citing log supply and environmental problems; the stud mill continues in normal operation.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is drawing up a stud lumber contract, very similar to the present lumber contract, but calling for delivery of traded 2x4s, 92 518 inches long stud grade in spruce-fir-pine, Englemann spruce and lodgepole pine.

PSF Inc. has moved to bigger offices in Sacramento at 46l6El Camino, 95821; telephone remains the same, as does the mail.ing address of P.O. box 754977, zip 95825 South Bay Redwood has broken ground on a ?000 sq. ft. new office bldg. at their Oranga, Ca,, distribution yard. .

Wisconsin-California Farest Products, Redding, Ca.. has added a molding dept. to its opera- tion. . Hush M. Woods Co., expects to open its 7th Denver area store this summer

J. W. Metz Lumber is now in brand new quarters, 3751 Fraser St., Aurora, Co. . .

Palmer G. Lewis Co.'s Yakima, Wa., branch hopes to be into expanded new quarters by early Spring. . E. A. Thompson Co. has moved to 703 Market St., San Francisco. . Payless Cashways plans to open Bakersfield and Modesto, Ca., units next mo. Ever-Strait Door is bld,g. a new plant in Denver. .

Lumber Products. Portland, has completed an 8000 sq. ft. temporary storage shed for incoming lumber, has added 15,000 sq. ft. to their Eugene branch and slates a July completion for their new 38,000 sq. ft. cedar & hardwood shed at Portland Hq. Hayward Lumber, Salinas, Ca., has purchased 6 adjacent acres for expansion.

Foster Lumber, Boulder Co., has purchased Cash-Way Lumber, Sheridan, Wy., no amount disclosed . . Capital Lumber, Cheyenne, Wy., is building a 7000 sq. ft. store addition. C. Meek Lumber has added more space to its Carson City, Nv., store. . Copeland Lumber plans to expand its Forest Grove, Or.o facilities.