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84 Lumber Returns To Utah

84 Lumber Co. has purchased 20 acres in West Jordan, Ut., to build its first store in the state in more than a decade.

The location will open later this year or early next year.

Until the early 1990s, the chain had a lumberyard in Utah County. It closed after management decided to refocus on the professional builder, rather than individual consumers.

Mill Opens In Hawaii Forest

A new timber company has been formed that will reduce fire hazards in Hawaii's Polipoli Springs State Recreational Area and the Kula Forest Reserve.

President Skip Keathley and partners Robbie von Tempsky and Jimmy Milliken have opened South Pacific Lumber Co.. Kula. Hi.

The new timber company contracted to pay for trees cut down because they were growing too close to cabins and might injure park visitors. But if they were left on the ground, the trees could become a fire hazard. "It doesn't have to sit there and be a problem," said Glenn Shishido, Maui forestry manager for the state

Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The trees are milled onsite, because it is difficult and time-consuming to haul the trees down a winding, lO-mile access road. Instead of being turned into easily transported wood chips, the timber is milled into lumber suitable for local house framing or furniture making.

"This benefits both parties. It's a win-win situation." said Shishido.

Pnlco Wins One, Loses One

A Humboldt County judge dismissed a controversial lawsuit against Pacific Lumber Co., Scotia, Ca., ruling that the company's conduct during the logging permit process was protected from civil action.

The lawsuit, filed in 2002, alleged that PALCo submittted false landslide data in the hopes of logging inaccessible trees on instable slopes in the Headwaters Forest. The company later corrected the landslide data. but submitted it to the wrong agency.

In a related case, the California state water resources board has upheld its order that PALCo halt logging in the Freshwater Creek and Elk River watersheds (see Mav, p. 32).

The board also ruled that the North Coast Regional Water Board acted improperly in approving eight timber harvest plans submitted by Palco in November 2OO4 and March 2005.

The long-running dispute over logging of the watersheds has already caused the layoff of 75 P,qlco workers and shutdown of its Fortuna, Ca., sawmill. When asked how the latest ruling will affect the possibility of debt restructuring or bankruptcy, company leaders said they needed "to get our heads together."

Grand Floor Joins Depot

Grand Floor Designs, Roseville, Ca., has been acquired by Home Depot as part of its Builder Solutions supply division.

Builder Solutions, which operates under the name Creative Touch Interiors, sells flooring, countertops, window coverings and design services to most of the largest homebuilders in rhe u.s.

Grand Floor Designs co-founders Jeff Anderson and Greg Grant will stay on as regional vice presidents. The firm's 480 employees are also expected to remain.