WESlIERN ASS0CIA1r[0N NEWS

Mountaln States Lumber & Buildlng Materlal Dealers Assoclatlon's 1993 fall management conference is scbeduled Nov. 4-6 at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center, Englewood, Co.

Programs targeting timely issues crucial to running a successful and prosperous business are being planned for Friday and Saturday. The annual banquet and presentation of new officers is scheduled Friday nigbt.

MSLBMDA members and industry friends participated in the Westem Slope Golf Tournament chaired by Gordon Harbert, Harbert Lumber Co., Grand Junction, Sept. 10 at Rifle Creek Golf Course, Rifle, Co.

Western Butlding Material Association member Lloyd Lumber, Nampa, Id., bas been honored by Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co., the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Nation's Business mae.a- zine as a Blue Chip Enterprise.

In the award biography, the company was identified as a business that 'divers! fied for recession."

"We didn't really have a blueprint tbat we followed," Lloyd's general manager and past WBMA president Bob Jacobsen said. "But we have always been active in trade associations and paid a lot of attention to what other lumber yards did to meet demand."

Although the company was operating profitabJy with 90Vo contractor sales, owner George Jacobsen and his son, Bob, concemed about recession, starled a retail expansion in 1979. Converting the exisG ing store to an office, they added 9,000 sq. ft. to another building for a new store and built an I 1,000 sq. ft. warehouse.

A prehung door and modular cabinet millwork operation was added in the mid1980s. Sales of $10 million were posted last year, 30Vo from millwork manufac-

The Merchant Magazine ture. Negotiations are underway to acquire a building across the street to use as a cabinet, door and millwork showroom,

"The big question now is what material will be used for future home construction," Jacobsen said. "We're looking at new products on a daily basis. If the national economy has any kind ofrebound it will be preceded by a surge in housing construction. The industry is providing just enough lumber now to keep up, not enough to deal with increased volume."

WBMA's Western Round Up was Alg. 20-22 in Anaconda, Mt. Speakers included Jim Newell, Boise Cascade, Billings, Mt.; Bill McCauley, Cut Bank Building Supply, Cut Bank, Mt.; Cecil Cleveland, Valley Best-Way, Spokane, Wa.; Bob Jacobsen, Lloyd Lumber, Nampa, and Teresa Swick, Teresa Swick & Associates, Seattle, Wa. A roundtable of dealers also discussed changes and directions businesses are taking.

Lumber Merchants Assoclation of Northern California members, spouses, guests and children will tour Collins Pine, Chester, Ca., Sept. 17.

Participants will visit all phases of the operation which has 92,00O acres of timberlands and sawmills manufacturing over 75 MM board feet of ponderosa pine, sugar pine, white fir and Douglas fir annually. Lunch is included.

Registration is being handled by the LMA office in Sacramento.

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September 1993

Doug Fir's 200th Anniversary

North America's most plentiful tree species, Douglas fir, celebrates its 200th anniversary this year.

Surgeon and naturalist Archibald Menzie first studied Douglas fir in 1793. Ten years later the species was first classified a pine and then as part of the fir genus and finally into its own genus, P seudotsuga (false hemlock), in 1889. Thesurname Menziesiihonoring its discoverer was added in 1950.

Over one-fifth of the continent's total softwood reserves, more than 120 billion cubic feet, is Douglas fr.

Juniper Tests Find Potential

As some cedar species become less available, western juniper, a cedar species long regarded as a rangeland nuisance, is being considered as a raw material option for secondary wood manufacturers.

Bulldozed into piles and burned or used for firewood and fence posts for decades, the tough, gnarly tree was considered useless as lumber. However, testing coordinated by the Oregon Economic Development Depart- menL U.S. Forest Service and Pacific Power and Light has proven these assumptions false. Juniper logs sawn by Sycan Forest Products, Dairy, Or., proved less troublesome than expected with the quantity and quality of usable lumber exceeding expectations.

Reports from Oregon and Califor- nia secondary wood products manufacturers who tested air and kiln dried juniper samples are positive. A manufacturers forum sponsored by the agencies mentioned and the Wood Products Competitiveness Corp. was held in Bend, Or., Sept. l.

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Fur Flies Over Fir On Al Gore's Porch

Wood used to rebuild the front porch of Vice President Al Gore's home in Washington, D.C., came ftom old growth treeS found almost exclusively in spotted owl habitat, revealed The Spokesman Review, Spokane, Wa., in a copyrighted report.

Project specifications indicate that old growth Douglas fir and redwood were used to replace the wraparound veranda at the home, known as Quarters A, at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Northwest Washingon D.C., J. Todd Foster wrote.

"Coming from our friend Al Gore, this is truly a hoot, excuse the pun," said Ken Kohli, a spokesman for the Inland Northwest timber industry.

Industry representatives across the country refer to tle veep as "Owl" Gore because of his role in restricting logging in the Pacific Northwesr. Using old growth to renovate. the vice presidential home is hypocritical, they said, and proves the industry's basic point: even environmentalists can't survive without wood.

"I sure hope Gore's not going to grill salmon on that porch," wisecracked Mark Rey, American Forest and Paper Association vice president of forest resources, Washington, D.C.

Building specifications called for 3,000 board feet of "vertical grain Douglas fir" to be used in building the porch's deck and "clear, all-heart redwood" for lattice, The Spokesman Review revealed. Vertical grain boards are usually produced from Douglas fus of the size that exist only in Northern California and the coastal regions of Oregon and Washington, domain of the "threatened" northem spotted owl. About 25 million board feet of this type of forest has been set aside for each nesting pair of owls.

"Vice President Gore is a well-intentioned urban dweller who doesn't understand that milk comes from the cow, not the grocery store," said Elizabeth Pease, spokeswoman for the National Hardwood Lumber Association, in Memphis, Tn., Gore's home state.

Gore officials referred inquiries to the Navy, owner of the home, and blamed the project on the BushQuayle adminisration, saying specifications were drafted last year although construction didn't start until February and finished in June. The Gore familv moved in July.

"There's every chance that wood came from the Pacific Northwest. There's just no excuseTor a vice president as environmentrlly sensitive as he claims to be to not know this," Pease said. "If he can't control renovations of his own home, he shouldn't be attempting to renovate the united States' environmental policy. "

Skila Harris, Gore's special assistant and Tipper Gore's chief of staff, denied industry's contention that a Navy officer (the renovation was done under the direction of the Chesapeake Division of Navy Facilities Engineering Command) sat down with Gore and offered to explain the renovation. Gore reportedly declined the offer. Bids on the project were not let until after Jan. 19 of this year. Navy spokeswonan Kathy Sampson said the Naval Observatory house is eligible for the National Historic Register, which requires certain construction standards, including the grades of wood.

Wood recycled ftom old historical sites is available for renovating existing historical sites, Pease explained. The U.S. Departrnent of Housing and Urban Development puts out a catalog of such materials, she said, adding if she could find that out, then so should Gore.

"I certainly don't begrudge the vice president his 3,000 board feet of a renewable resouce. I'm glad he enjoys and appreciates the quality of our products," Rey said.

WWPA Group To Visit Mexico

Westem Wood Products Association will hold its fall meeting Sept. 11-14 at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, Ca.

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