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NorthwestTimber Rules FosterExploitation

Northwest timber restrictions have author, estimates more than 1.53 milthe potential to creat€ worldwide en- lion acres would need to be harvested virorunental problems and forest ex- to replace timber lost ftom 100,000 ploitation. acres in theNorthwest.

A u-niversity of washington col- Environmentally sound develop- lege of Foresr Resources study (cIN- ment of siberian fbrests faces obsta- TRAFOR) calculates a 4.5Vo global cles. Russian political and economic lumber $pply decrease will raise instability could foster comrption and Pgtss: with developed_nations like the exploitation. Since reforestation and pnjp!_sgtes paying $2.5 billion more suitainable harvesr are unpracriced in 1995 alqre. theories in Russia, it is unlikely timber

This will put lumhr products out harvests could be accomplished with_ of rea_c! for developing nations with- out damage to soil, nrn -A wildlife out timber resources and encourage includingf the enOangereO Siberian d9v.et9ngS lations with timber o ex- white tig&. ploit it for financial gain, researchers Other areas of the world would fare found.

Retailers Will Survive & Thrive

Retailers who "suryive and thrive in the 1990s" will have to be adaptable while sticking to the basics, predicts Eend watcher Dr. Roger Selbert.

He recommends retailers become futurists by: o Becoming and staying informed about trends affecting their business. o Knowing, understanding, servicing and learning from customers. o Examining assumptions and underpinnings and keeping focused on strat€gic intents. silce this may be do.ne wirhour re- o Responding and adapting where change is warranted; strengthening what deserves !o be retained.

:H:l'alflH'*"#sttL'#; planting _or adequate land manage- the wildlife and wilderneis set_asides ment, CINTRAFO^R predicts envi- and harvest -*"g*"oipractices re_ ronmenrar havoc. siberia nT rq4l quired in the u.s.l r2-60a more rand of untouched timber estimated lt60Vo *oufO have to be harvested to equal of the wodd's softwood su^ppry, but productionfromoneacreof Northwest Bruce Lippke, CINTRAFOR study iana.

Futurists, Selbert explains, are "professional generalists who apply common sense to the obvious. But of course, co[lmon sense isn't so common anymore. And these days it's a full-time job just to detemrine the obvious."

Shopping On The Tube

Television shopping is the fastest growing retail segment in the U.S., according to the National Retail Federation.

They report shopping on the tube is currently generating $2.5 billion in sales and should reach $10 billion by the end of the decade. Ethnic singlewage earner females are the most frequent home television shoppers. However, increased participation by big quality-brand names is expected to add more credibility and attract an older, more affluent audience.

Turner Broadcasting and CBS repo(edly are eyeing tv's shopping potential.

Warehouse Safety Questioned Following Death At HomeBase

In the wake of a fatal accident at HomeBase, Lynnwood, Wa., the State Department of Labor & Industries has launched a sweeping review of safety in warehouse-style stores.

customer Betty vale,46, was crushed to death April9 by 1,600 pounds of ceramic floor tile that toppled from an 8-ft. rack. Police said it appeared that wooden slats on a pallet and the cross supports on the shelving broke under the weight of the tiles, causing the pallet to tip over and fall on the woman.

Investigators initially went to HomeBase to examine the shelving that broke to ensure the shelves were assembled properly and not ovedoaded.

They then fanned out across the state to investigate similar pallets, racking and working environments at 10 other warehouse stores.

"It's kind of a unique situation, when you have a showroom floor and a working warehouse occupying the same spa.ce," said Depaffiient of Labor & Industries director Mark Brown. His agency's afun was to discover "if we have a serious safety problem or, as I suspect" this was an isolated incidenL"

Investigator Suzanne Taylor said their f,rndings would be released in early May. "Wete not going to be citing anyone, rather we're seeing if we can recommend safer ways of stocking," she said. "We're calling the report a State of the Sates Safety Address."

Although the report will only offer recommendations, some feel it could lead to stricter enforcement of the state law on stocking, called the Secured Storage Law, which states that all stacking shall be stable, secure and safe and that emplo;;ees be rained on how to safely stack goods.

Warehouse retailers, though fierce competitors, are willing to work together on safety issues. Still, odds of a reoccrurence of the HomeBase incident are "pretty remote," said Home Depot safety engineer Keith Rosenblum. "I have never seen this happen before."

Yet in 1991, a steel shelf collapsed at a nearby Lynnwood Costco, burying the aisle with food and crushing a shopping cart. Costco quickly replaced all the steel shelving of the type that hiled in all their stores.

HomeBase spokesperson Carol Elfstrom said the store manager conducted a safety check of all the other shelves inrmediately after the accident. The company, which took some heat for leaving the store open after the accident, closed the store for four hours during Vale's funeral.

Ties Without Knots

Two new handy Tuf-Tex devices that make it easy to hold hand-twisted nylon or poly rope without knots have been introduced by PRC Corp.