Simpson's Own Owl Plan Approved

Simpson Timber Co., Shelton, Wa., and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service have signed the frst northern spotted owl Habitat Conservation Plan to be developed and approved by a private forest prodrcts company.

The plan will allow Simpson to demonstrate how the company will maintain suitable habitat for spotted owls on its property over time and avoid minimize and mitigate potential effects of harvesting on the resident owl population.

"There is a common misconception the industry and government can not work together when the subject of the northern spoued owl arisss," said U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service director John Turner. "That impression has been laid to rest with the first habitat conservation plan for the spotted owl, developed by my agency and Simpson TimberCo."

Valley Lumbers Alive & Well

Valley Lumber closed, but Valley Lumberdidn't

According to a siory on long-time lumber fetailef,s closing in last month's Merclant Magazinc (p.26), a Valley Lumber had closed, but its location in Lucerne Valley, Ca., was not mentioned.

But "Valley Lumber" seems to be the "Smith" of company names. Unrelated Valley Lumbers in Willifs, Barstow, Ferndale, Stockton and Big Oak Flat, Ca., did not close.

Jeld-Wen Acquires Bend Co.

Jeld-Wen, Inc., Klamath Falls, Or., has acquired Bend Millwork Systems, lnc., Ben4 Or., (Bend Millwork Co., Bend Door Co. and Pozzi Window Co.) from Nortek, Inc., Providence, R.t.

Kelly Guy, Bend Millwork Co. plant manager, has been promoted !o general manager. Frank DeVaul, JeldWen v.p., door manufachrring, is general manager of Bend Door Co. with Bill Ellswood continuing as sales manager. Barry Homrighaus, JeldWen assistant v.p., is general Inanager of Pozzi Window Co. with Steve Sheasby, Jeld-Wen assistant v.p., in charge ofthe 17 direct sales operations in Oregon, California, Nevada Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Jersey and Massachusetls.

The plan, which took almost three years to research and develop, became official Sept. 17 at a signing oer€mony at Camp Bauer, a private recreationd site located on Simpson's lands in Korbel, Ca.

Simpson's research program and plan are part of their application for an incidental take permit under the Federal Endangered Species Act. To qualify for the permit, companies are required to demonstrate that they will minimize and mitigate any effects of timber harvesting on the owl to the maximum extent possible.

Developing their own plan could become a popular method for companies to deal with owl-related restrictions. "You do have that option under the Endangered Species Act," said Simpson's Maureen Frisch. "I know other companies are working on their own Habitat Conservation Plans. t think well see more of this in the future."

Simpson's properties include 380,000 acres of primarily secondand third-growth redwood and Douglas fir forests in Del Norte and Humboldt, Ca, counties.

P&M Joins George C. Brown & Co.

George C. Brown Cedar Co. has been formed by Geneva Corp., Greensboro, N.C., and P&M Consumer Products, Inc., Stockton, Ca. Based in Greensboro, the new company, fonned Aug.24, combines Geneva's Aromatic Cedar products division currently operating as George C. Brown & Co. with all P&M Consumer Aromatic Cedar operations and P&M's plank paneling and incense cedar moulding products. Over the next two months all sales, production and administrative functions will be consolidated at the George C. Brown plant in Greensboro. P&M's production equipment will be relocated there with key manufacturing management and hourly personnel. George C. Brown Cedar Co. will retain a reload location in Linle Rock, Ar., to serve as a consolid4tion yard for aromatic cedar resource purchased in Arkansas and Missouri.

James Becher will be chairrran and ceo. Brown's president David Kruse and P&M's national sales manager Mark Fish and regional sales manager Randy Klatt wiil hold the same positions in the new company.

The company will produce traditional tongue and groove planks, Cedarsfan oriented sfand boiud, veneer panels and fim moulding under the CedarPro, Osage and Super Cedar brand names as well as P&M's Cedarberry Hill line of specialty cedar storage items, wainscot kits, boards, veneer and lumber items for retail and industrial use, shavings for kennel bedding and garden mulch and distillation of cedar oil.

Shopper Spots Alleged Thief

While shopping at Home Depot, the man who broke into her home and Hawthorne, Ca., a woman spotted one held a gun to her head while two othof three men who allegedly robbed her ers ransacked the apartrrent and stole at gunpoint two years earlier, accord- clothing, saidThe Daily Breeze. The ingWThcDailyBreeze. suspect, who had recently been re-

The 25-year-old man was arrested leased from jail, was booked on suspiat the store Sept. 23 after the wornan cion of robbery and burglary and held called police and said she had found inlieu of$20,000bail.

Palco Fined After Accident

Pacific Lumber Co. was fined $7,525 by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration for safety violations following the death of three workers at its Scotia, Ca., hardwood chip mill, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

The men were inside a debarker trying to free a jam late Sepr 8, when it suddenly restarted (See The Merchant, or;t., p. 35). OSHA blaned the victims for not properly shutting off the jammed debarker, but discovered safety violations during its investigation ofthe accident.

Palco received three citations, for not having proper safety notices posted at the machine, for failing to provide accident prevention signs or lock-out tags in the mill, and for having damaged grates on a walkway between the debarker and a chipper. The latter citation was not directly related to the accident.

All violations have since been corrected, and nothing was found to be wrong with the equipment.

The victims were all veterans, trained in safety procedures and familiar with the equipment. It is still unknown why all three were inside the debarker at the same time.