The big Spring meeting

I I TESTERN lumbermen ended the U U Spring Meeting of the Western Wood Products Association in San Francisco on a note of market optimism related to an upturn in housing starts, but tempered with concern over potential timber supply problems relating to the recent Monongahela decision (see p. 6 of this issue).

More than 1,20O attended the March 9-12 meeting, which concluded with installation of Robert J. DeArmond, president of The Pack River Co., Spokane, Wa., as new president of WWPA. DeArmond takes the reins from Vern L. Gurnsey, outgoing president and v.p., industry affairs for Boise Cascade.

Earlier, Gurnsey told members that "Most of us are having to readjust our way of life and our way of doing business to accommodate 'other' users of the public lands. We don't like it, but it's adjust or get out. The names are getting more familiar now. Monongahela, Tongass, Miller vs. Mallory, or Bull Run and the NEPA Act."

He further noted that we'd survived the lowest housing demand in three decades. "Thank heaven it was a rich mix, heavily weighted to single family units, or there would be even fewer of us here today," he said and added that "we are experiencing an erosion of credibility that arises from a lack of clearly stated goals and a firm sense of direction. We don't seem to know who our leaders are or where we are going."

In his report to WWPA Members National Forest Products Association executive v.p. Ralph Hodges stressed that Monongahela dominates what the industry does and this will continue for several years.

"It poses the greatest threat we have ever experienced as an industry. If unchecked the nation faces shortages of wood and paper products that could be worse than the recent fuel crisis."

He further advised that NFPA was giving top priority to Monongahela and that as things now stand, "We have only a very slim chance of reversal of the decision in the courts." He presented WWPA members with NFPA's three-phase campaign for resolving the problem and urged the involvement and cooperation of everyone.

"I assure you", he concluded, "cooperation is excellent everywhere, we are well organized, our story is good, it's in the public interest all the way. If we do our job right, this will be the best thing that ever happened to the nation's forests. If we fail, their productivity will be wasted at a great loss to present and future generations."

In his report, WWPA executive v.p. H.A. Roberts said there is little doubt that the industry can look to a significantly improved market situation in 1976. "Hopefully," he said, "we are

Story at a Glance

The Good News: increased housing starts, The Bad News: the Monongahela issue and its potential for timber supply disruption. .1.1 million of 1.5 million housing starts expected to be single family .more repair/remodeling business seen.

beginning to see the end of the famine."

He also foresaw inventories increasing to 2.2 brllion at the year end, "a low level by any measure," concluding that "It seems to us that the industry is now more prone than in earlier years to avoid the high costs of inventory building."

He told lumbermen that 1.5 million housing starts appear attainable in 197 6 and that single family units will make up l.l million of that total, the balance multi-family starts.

Roberts pointed out that repair and remodeling account for as much lumber consumption as does residential construction. Residential construction will show a larger percentage increase, about 24%, and should consume 2.5 billion feet more in 1976 than in 1975. He said residential construction should consume about 13.7 billion feet this year.

R. Gene Conatser of Bank of America said that the nation is coming out of the worldwide recession and that inflation has become a fact of life. He called things better now than they were a year ago, but have not reached the point they were in '73 in terms of production and real income. He concluded that businessmen must learn to live in the world as it exists today rather than the world that existed in the 50 s. That world is gone, he said, and will not come again, he warned WWPA members.

P0RTLAttID lumbermen (1) John Hampton, Jack Zalaha and Paul Streight, editor of Crow's letter and plywood guide. (2) Pete Johnson, Bob Bonniksen, John Shrock.

(3) John Schick, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gardiner, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Gardiner and Harry Merlo, the president of LouisianaPacific. (4) Dwight Curran, Dick McKannay.

(5) Homer Bollard, Jim Senner, Homer 0avenport. (6) 0wen Corcoran, Tom McHugh. (7) Bob Hood, John Hamacher, Jane Hood, Ted Gilbert. (8) Dave Maxwell, Bob Propst, Bruce Ball, George Kavooras, Leonard Newman. {9) Jim 0uart, Bert Dennis. (10) Jim Rossman, Jim Fraser, Henry Anderson. (11) Eliot Jenkins, "Nat" Giustina. (12) Bill Hart, Allen Penttila. (l3l Polly and Dorman Dane and his newlyacquired cast. (14) Jack Gruber, "Mac" Epley, Jack Brown. (15) Willie Van Vleet, Dave 0hman. (l6l Jerry Walch, J. M. Trask. (17) Cliff Ellenwood, Jerry Bundy. D. W. Berg. (18) Larry Mollner, Ken Schmidke, Jim Frodsham, Bosalie Schmidke, Mike Parli. (19) "Mac" Cheatham, John H. King. (201 Gus Hubbard, B. B. Garcia, Tom Hughes. (21) Don Stobaugh, Bob Spry, Larry 0uinlan.

PBESSUBE creosoted pilings are foundation material for 751,000 sq. ft. addition to Sparks, Nv., warehouse; total capacity will be 1.5 million sq. ft. Seen are some of the more than 800 piles.