WWPA's Fqll Meeting

fTHIEF of the U.S. Forest Service V assured western lumbermen at the Fall meeting of the Western Wood Products Assn. in Seattle that his agency recognized the raw material crisis they faced and pledged that his personnel would take an optimum role in meeting wood fiber needs consistent with environment requirements and other demands for services of the forest.

Various legal and administrative restraints, he noted, caused the Forest Service to fall below its financed sell for last year by 8 percent.

Some of the reduction in sales at a time when demand is at an all. time high were caused by legal challenges to timber sales in many areas and added expenses caused by .". quirements for compliance with the National Environmental Protection Act, Chief John R. McGuire ex. plained.

He warned the lumbermen that the next few years are not going to be easy.

"There will be problems in maintaining adequate raw material sup. plies needed by your industry," he said, "yet, I believe we can establish a balance between commodity and non-commodity uses of forest land. But many di{ferent interest groups are going to have to work together to achieve that goal."

NEW GRADE tABEtS

In other business, the WWPA re. vealed that colorful new paper labels will soon be introduced on wes. tern lumber graded under association quality standards. It will mark the first time labels have been used to grade mark American lumber.

The pressure-sensitive labels, color-coded for the various grades of lumber such as boards and 2x4s. will enhance the legibility of grade marks and make specific grades immediately identifiable. Labels will be produced and distributed to manufacturers under strict security provisions and be designed to shred if removed from the lumber.

For many years, lumber has been grade-marked by grading agencies certified by the American Lumber

Standards Committee (ALSC) under the auspices of the U.S. department of Commerce. The standard method employs rubber stamps and ink applied manually or by automat. ed machinery. Grade marking is done on the production line under [he supervision of an experienced lumber grader. The new labels will be applied in the same way as present grade marks. The configuration will be identical, but the size will be slightly smaller.

Housing Starts

Projections for the year in both housing starts and lumber production have had to be revised upward since last Spring, and a record high of. 2.25 million starts in conventional housing fior L972 is now predicted, Wendell B. Barnes, exec. vp., told members.

The higher number of housing starts also is expected to push lum- ber consumption in the U.S. in 1972 to 40.6 billion board feet, with 9 billion board feet from Canada.

Both are records. Previous high mark in housing starts was 2.08 million in 1971, when 37 billion board feet of lumber were consumed.

'oWhen you consider that previous to 1971, a figure of 1.5 million housing starts was considered good. it is obvious that we are in a healthv housing economy."

Although housing starts are ex. pected to decline somewhat in 1973, it still is expected to be the third best ever, equaling or surpassing the 1,952,000 totaled in 1950.

Even with a decline in housing starts, total U.S. softwood lumber consumption should still exceed the record 37 billion board feet used in l97L by about 400 million. This would make 1973 second only to 1972 in lumber consumption. buy

Wcslern Lumber ond Building Moleriols MERCHANT past four months, have you made a suggestion concerning safety or efficiency on the job to your supervisor?