Good Year or Medlocre? It's

Up to Usl

By Harold E. Sand Executive vice-president Georgia-Pacific Corp.

HE coming year has an excellent potential to really move construction and the building materials industry off'dead center. I believe new residential construction, most heavily in single-family, will move up noticeably by spring and gather momentum in the last half. Remodeling will remain strong, and this momentum can be sustained through the year with normal seasonal adjustments. The 1.5 or 1.6 million conventional new housing starts level that we considered good in the 1960s is certainly possible. It could be better. if . .

In the months ahead there is much more for all of us to do than in the past to insure the maximum possible recovery.

In addition to improved merchandising as an industry, with retailers and contractors taking full advantage of better merchandising aids offered by cooperating manufacturers, we will have to really join forces in the growing battle against bureaucracy where most of our current and recent past troubles are centered.

All of us must make our voices heard on this subject, among our customers, our Congressional delegations, and political leaders at every level.

Specifically, the Federal Reserve Board must return to the successful credit restraints that it abandoned at the end of the 1960 s, putting the clamps on highly speculative borrowing that has been the real culprit in run-away interest rates that stopped our industry in its tracks. And run-away Congressional spending must be stopped.

We must make our cumulative voice heard on problems of unnecessary environmental controls that have blocked housing, factory, shopping center and other developments through arbitrary bureaucratic edicts, over-kill inlanduse planningandby costly and delaying court actions by small groups or individuals not now being held responsible for the damage they cause. The latter is true even though their cases may be found by the courts to be completely without merit. This also is a major factor behind escalating costs of timber for plywood and lumber.

Developers have to face costly delays, hearings, denials, and huge stacks of paperwork in red-taping through as many as 30 or 40 federal, state and local environmental, building permit, land planning and other agencies; a growing bureaucratic problem affecting all of us.

Builders, retailers, contractors, realtors and suppliers must join forces on this prime cause of our-and the nations's-problems with coordinated effort.

We must accept it as part of today's business world. We can form a formidable group in the public interest.

And I think we can do it in 1976.

Deltz: Lumberman ol the Year

Glen Deitz has been selected Lumberman of the Year by the Shasta Cascade Hoo-Hoo club in conjunction with the Redding, Ca., Trade Club at their annual joint meeting to observe National Forest Products Week, held this year Oct. 19-25.

Glen is sales manager of Diamond International, Red Bluff, Ca. He is a graduate of the University of California .(degree in Forestry) and was first employed by Diamond Match Co. as a forester and timber cruiser.

Next came a 3-l 12 year stint in the Navy during World War II, most of the time in the Pacific area on a destroyer. In l946he returned to Diamond Match in lumber production. From 1951-57, Glen was employed by Northern Redwood Lumber Co. in Korbel, Ca., as assistant resident manager. ln 1951 he returned to Diamond in charge of lumber production at Red Bluff and 3 years later became sales manager.

VIPS at gathering included (11 meeting chairman Brad Broyles, "Lumberman of the Year" Glen Deitz, club president Don Lincoln. (2) Jerry Arndt, Don Lucas. (3) Pat Darnton, Ray Johnson, Herb Brown. (4) Ray Williams, Jim Boyd. (5) Mort Huetter, Glen Deitz, Lanny Owen, Wayne Murphy. (6) Keith Smith, Jim Smith. (7) Wade Mosby, Rich Tucker, Tony Gallagher. (81 Cigo Mozznia, Milt Schultz. (9) Earl Brandeberry, Al Kerper.

Glen is very active in civic affairs; including being a member of the Red Bluff City Council for 9 years and mayor in 1966.

Houslng Goal Urged On Ford

The forest products industry has urged President Ford and his cabinet to announce and support a goal of 1.8 million new housing starts for the coming year, including 1.4 million new one- and two-family houses.

The National Forest Products Association asserted that it is the responsibility of the Administration and Congress to maintain an attractive framework for mortgage and real estate investment while avoiding changes to tax and labor laws that would adversely affect homebuilding.

Conducting its Fall Meeting in Montreal, NFPA urged both Congress and the Ford Administration to encourage investment in institutions that supply funds for home mortgages through tax incentives for savers.

FOR SALE Lumber Milling Facility

LOCATION: 22 No. County Rd. 101, Woodland, California. Approx. 15 mi. no. of Sacramento. Rail-served by Southern Pacific.

LAIYD SIZE: 7.2 ac. Adjacent 6.7 ac. avail. for expansion.

IMPROVEMEITITS:

* Approx. 2,300 sq. ft. cc block modern office. Carpeted, a/c includes several private offices and two restrooms.

* Three 60' x 194' Pascoe steel bldgs. all w/open bays, asphalt floors, fire sprinklers (dry) fluor. ltg.

* One 80' x 218' mill bldg. w/open bays, cc floor, fluor ltg., fire sprinklers (dry) and dust collection conveyor and pit.

* Two elevated wood chip bins and two silos designed for dust collection & filtering.

* Site improvements include, 237,000 sq. ft. of asphalt paved area, 400 linear ft. of rr. spur, Chainlink fence around entire parcel, and Two 10,000 gal. underground gasoline storage tanks.

* R.E. taxes-apx. $22,000/yr.

Facility previously used by lumber milling co. who served mobile home mfgrs. Property immediately adjacent to I-5 with excel. freeway exposure & access. Exact specs on equipment or other items furnished upon request.

PIIRCHASE PRICE: $650,000 CASH.

For info. or inspection, contact:

Mr. Caldwell, Sequoia Pacific, 1000 So. Grand Ave., Santa Ana 7141835-8035 or Mr. Doty, Sequoia Pacific, 3000 Kifer Road, Santa Clara 408/249-3090

Joe Casella, Manager

West ls Blg Lumber Market

This year will end with about 1.2 million housing starts, making it the worst year for housing since 1966. This was the prediction made to nearly 300 lumbermen gathered for the Fall Meeting of the Western Wood Products Association at Scottsdale, Az.

H. A. Robert, exec. v.p. of WWPA, forecast that total U. S. lumber consumption will be 30.3 billion board feet, down 8% from last year and off 24% from the 2.4 million housing start year' of 1972. Roberts said that housing starts in 1976 should reach 1.5 million, but no improvement will take place until the second quarter.

He explained that residential housing normally accounts for 45% of the nation's lumber consumption, but this year will account for only 35%. He said the percentage would have been lower had it not been for a larger number of single family starts in the entire housing mix.

"Fortunately, repair and remodeling took up some of the slack. While residential use will climb to 38% next year, our forecast for 1976 continues to place reliance on strength in repair and remodeling to take some seven billion board feet of total consumption."

Pointing out that l0 years ago only 33% of Western lumber production was consumed in the 12 contiguous Western states, he noted that some 52% is now consumed in the West as markets in Eastern and Southern states have declined. He predicted that Japanese demand for finished lumber markets would take up some of this slack.

"The potential market in Japan is extremely important to our entire industry. Export markets last year and early this year did much to alleviate what would otherwise have been an impossible market situation. Development of foreign markets could provide direct benefits to coastal state mills and indirect benefit to inland mills which then would claim a larger share of domestic markets," he said.

WWPA is the nation's largest lumber trade association, serving western manufacturers who produce 40% of the nation's softwood lumber output.