SEQUOIASI-IPPLY

WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTION OF ENGINEERED WOOD PRODUCTS THROUGHOUT NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND NORTHERN NEVADA FROM A 'I2 ACRE DISTRIBUTION CENTER IN FAIRFIELD, CALIFORNIA.

SILENT FLOORO BRAND TJI@ JOISTS MICRO:LAM@ LAMINATED VENEBR LUMBER PARALLAMO PARALLEL STRAND LUMBER

Wood Panel Production Up

The U.S. structural wood panel indushy produced 24 3 billion square feet (3/8" basis) ofpanel products last year with total production 2.07 billion sq. ft. (7.9%) less than in 1990.

This is the lowest annual total since 1985. Record production, by comparison, was 27.2 billion sq. ft. in 1988, according to American Plywood Association figures.

"Considering the state of the economy and all of the uncertainty surrounding the Gulf War and its aftermath, it could have been worse," APA president William T. Robison noted. He expects the industry, aided by a housing market recovery, to fare better in 1992, forecasting production to rebound to 26.3 billion sq. ft.

Production declined to 5.1 billion sq. ft. in the west, 13.6 billion sq. ft. in the south, and 2.5 billion sq. ft. in the inland region. The north increased to 3.1 billion sq. ft.

Housing starts will total 1.150 million this year, up from 1.015 million last year, Robison predicted. However, he added that tax incentives for new home buyers proposed by the Bush administration or similar measures, if passed, could spur even greater housing activity. However, sharp increases in the cost of wood products could negate these. "It's a simple matter of supply and demand," he said. "Unless some sort of reasonable land management policy replaces the current chaos caused by the courts and the preservationists in this country, the American consumer will pay an increasingly heavy price for wood products."

No Lumber, No Recovery

Low interest rates and incentives such as tax credits won't increase residential construction and home purchases to bolster the economy if lumber prices skyrocket because ofreduced timber supply, Tad Scharpf, president, Scharpf Twin Oaks Builders Supply, Eugene, Or., told the Endangered Species Committee.

Testifying at Feb. I 3 hearings on the direct economic relationship between affordable and adequate timber supply and economic recovery, he urged the committee to reconsider "locking up" some of the most productive forest growing areas of the wodd. He reinforced his comments by pointing out that areducedtimbersupplyhad pushed the composite price of softwood timber up almost 50% to $307 since Jan. 3.

I,,f'S Whatever happe

By Matt Moulder

Whatever happened to Ed Wilson? Ed retired as sales manager for Ochoco Lumber Co. in .lanuary, 1991 after 42 years with the Prineville, Oregon, firm. Ed is happily toiling on his Prineville mini ranch where he has resided the past 35 years. He is president of the Prineville Colf Club for 1 992 and is one of four West Coast lumbermen chosen by the Navalo Indians to serve on the board of directors of the tribe's forest products operations located at Navajo, N.M.

Ed was one of Ochoco's three general partners during his tenure there as well as their main salesperson. ln 1 990, Wilson was honored at an award ceremony for having sold one billion board feet of lumber for Ochoco Lumber Co. during his career.

Ed comes from a lumber family, his father having co-founded the Clark and Wilson sawmill in Linnton, Or., in 1903. Ed grew up in Linnton, attended Oregon State U. and went to work for Ochoco in 1949. Ed has four children. His daughter Julie lives in lssaquah, Wa.; daughter Claudia resides in Lake Oswego, Or.; son Charlie works for Malheur Lumber Co., a branch of Ochoco located in John Day, Or.; and son Ron is marketing manager for Ochoco. All four children have families and one of Ed's pastimes is trying to keep their freezers full of home grown Wilson beef.

Many among the general public think that logging and mining are similar in that once logged, the land is ruined and the resource gone. Ochoco is a good example that this is not so. They own and manage over 65,OOO acres of timberland in Central Oregon. Selective logging began on this land in 1938. Logging is still going on in 1 992 and wildlife is flourishing. The company produces 40 million board feet of lumber per year in their John Day mill and 60 million feet at the Ochoco plant. Timber from their own lands is augmented by Forest Service stumpage. lf federal timber continues to be made available, Ochoco will always be able to practice "tree farming" on their property in such a manner that growth and removal will continue to be well balanced.

The Navalo Indian lands in Arizona and New Mexico are another good exampleof forestryatwork.The Navajo nation owns 4O0,000 acresof timberland. They have a tree farm and a replanting program that are second to none. Four trees are planted for every tree cut down. The mill is on a sustained yield basis. Wouldn't this operation make a good sublect for PBS television or Ted Turner's TV network? Whv not?

Owl Droppings

51 California counties will have the opportunity to voice their opinion on the June ballot as to whether or not the state should be split in two. This is one of those questions that really can't be answered with a yes or no. What people in both North and South need to know before they cast their vote iswho gets stuck with San Francisco??