Western woods: a matter of geography

of the various species, but by a multitude of romantic descriptive names often indicating the locality where it is found or a reference dating back to the Indians. Because many of the species grow close together, making it virrually impossible to harvest. manufbcture and market each of them separately, western woods in the U.S. have been combined into 1l principal marketing groups.

These groups include Douglas fir/ larch; Douglas fir/south; western hemlock; hem-fir; mountain hemlock; subalpine fir; Engelmann spruce, lodgepole pine; Ponderosa pine/sugar pine; Idaho white pine and western red cedar.

Western woods from the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta also are grouped into marketing units. Hem-fir is the commercial name for western hemlock and amabilis fir. Western spruce-pine-fir, the largest reserves of commercial softwood in Canada at 1.5 trillion board feet, includes white spruce, Engelmann spruce, lodgepole pine and alpine fir.

Yellow cedar and western red cedar are marketed as individual species. Only British Columbia produces any appreciable quantities of yellow cedar which grows only in the area from the northern Oregon border to Alaska. Sitka spruce, a tree which requires a great deal of moisture, also is grown in large enough quantities to be marketed as a separate commercial species in British Columbia.

A large portion of the western wood producers in the U.S. are represented by the Western Wood Products Association based in Portland, Or. Those producing western red cedar lumber are often mem- bers of the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association, also based in Portland. In Canada western lumber producers are represented by the Western SprucePine-Fir Association which is made up of the Alberta Forest Products Association, Cariboo Lumber Manufacrurers' Association. Interior Lumber Manufacturers' Association and Northern Interior Lumber Sector, Council of Forest Industries of British Columbia (COFI).

Story at a Glance

Wood products from both U.S. and Canada qualafy as western woods allgraded to ALS standards... each country has its own producer associations

The American Softwood Lumber Standards provide the criteria for grading western woods produced in the United States. Since a great deal ofCanadian wood is used in the U.S., Canadian western woods also meet ALS standards as well as the National Lumber Grades Authority of that country which is certified by both the Canadian Lumber Standards Accreditation Board and the American Lumber Standards Comminee. Locality has little effect on the characteristics of most western woods. All are prized for their strength, workability, durability, insulation qualities and beauty.

ESTERN LUMBER sells better when both the seller and the buyer are well versed on what it can do. To provide the information retailers need for both their employees and customers, two seminar programs are available.

One is designed to help retailers know and merchandise their products with increased effectiveness. The other for professional builders and contractors allows the retailer to educate his best customers.

The retailer seminar is for anyone involved in lumber sales, including outside sales people and yard and counter personnel. The information, presented in a time line sequence, begins with a brief history of the lumber and construction industries, how they've grown and changed, the development of standards and how the products that lumber retailers are selling are the result of these histories and evolutions.

Then, narrowing the focus, the instructors follow a tree through the manufacturing process, explaining why lumber is the way it is - why it comes in 16 ft. lengths, why it is in two ft. multiples and the like. The point is to enable retail employees to answer customer's questions about, for erample, roller burn, how it happens and whether or not it affects a board's strength.

Next is a section on what to do with lumber when it comes to a yard. Grade stamps are explained so employees can understand exactly what they have on hand. Information about how to store and handle lumber in a variety of different circumstances is included.

A discussion of structural and nonstructural lumber, MSR lumber, fingerjointed, pressure treated and fire retardant treated lumber follows, all presented so retail employees can answer questions asked by customers ranging from d-i-yers to contractors and architects. Also included is instruction in the use ofspan tables.

Continuing the time line sequence, the next section deals with the retailer's role after the lumber is sold - delivering it to the job site and storing it there. The final portion of the retail seminar details the various kinds of marketing support offered including publications as well as an overview of advertisemens, additional literature and other seminars.

Retail seminars run for six hours, including an hour for a meal. They cost $25 per person. Everybody attending receives a binder frlled with information organized in the same sequence as the seminar.

The professional builders and contractors seminar is an opportunify for retailers to spend a day with their best customers,