uorres

Bill Lawson, 99, retired general manager of the old Holmes Eureka Lumber Co. (now Pacific Lumber Co.), Carlotta, Ca., died March I I in Cloverdale, Ca.

Lawson also worked as a manager for the old Rockport Redwood Co., Rockport, Ca.

Carol Lee Morse, 70, co-owner, Canby Builders Supply, Canby, Or., died from cardio-respiratory arrest March2l.

Morse and her husband, Richard Morse, purchased Canby Builders Supply in the 1961.

She has one son, Jim Morse, who works for Pacific Lumber Co., Hillsboro, Or., and another, Steve Morse, who works for Milwaukie Lumber Co., Milwaukie, Or.

Big Upgrade For ldaho Mill

Potlatch Corp., Spokane, Wa., will invest $2.7 million upgrading its St. Maries, Id., lumber and plywood sawmill to increase capacity.

Potlatch spokesman Mike Sullivan said the improvements should increase the facility's flow of logs and lumber by up to 4O7o and permit recovery of more usable wood from the logs it processes.

"The investments at St. Maries are part of an overall program to increase lumber production by up to 15Vo and reduce costs in our wood products division," he said.

Equipment upgrades at the plywood mill also will enable Potlatch to peel veneer that itwill sell to other manufacturers for use in laminated veneer lumber.

The plants should be running with new equipment by July 23, Sullivan said. Most of the improvements will be made during a 2l-day closure in July, but some work is set for a sixday shutdown late this month.

The St. Maries sawmill currently has an annual capacity of 100 million bd. ft., the plywood facility has a yearly capacity of 145 million sq. ft.

The plywood mill also has begun experimenting with production of a radiant-barrier plywood, LumaPly. Encouraged by sales ofits radiant barrier OSB (LuminOx), Potlatch is selling LumaPly on a limited basis now and hasn't decided whether to roll it out on a broader scale.

Dealers Demand Free Trade

Last month a North American Free Trade Agreement bi-national panel accepted a "friend-of-the-court" brief on behalf of LBM dealers and home builders that seeks to overturn tariffs on Canadian softwood.

Filed last fall, by the National Association of Home Builders and the National Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association, the brief argues that U.S. consumers and dealers who rely on Canadian lumber have been left out of recent softwood talks.

The brief also documents that different types of lumber produced by the U.S. and Canada are not interchangeable in the home construction industry. The groups argue that many builders prefer Canadian S-P-F for wall framing instead of U.S. southern yellow pine.

The U.S. residential housing market relies on Canadian lumber for 3OVo of its needs and fears that home buyers may pay as much as $1,000 more because of the tariffs.

The U.S. currently imposes a 2'77o tariff on all Canadian softwood.

Quolity Weslern Cedor Products

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Court Denies Palco Appeal

A Calilirlnia statc appcllate court deniecl an qrpcal br Pacil'ic [-unrbct'to consider a suit against actir ists lirr' tl.rcil nctions cluring a 2(X)l protcst in thc N'Iattole Rir el Vallev.

The cor-rlt rulecl that the filnr didn't present enou-th eviclence to sul'rport ils cluinrs that activists tlespassctl. inter1'erecl ri ith legal busincss or caused pfo[]ertl dama-ec. Palco's original sr-rit rius clrsnrisscd by a Humboldt Countl' SLrperiol Cburt in October 2001