Big Arizono Wood Products Industry Potentiql Erplored

Phoenix, Ariz.-Arizona's 17,000,000 acres of commercial and non-commercial timberland represents one of the greatest untapped industrial potentials in the Southwest.

That is the finding of a special forest products study made by the Arizona Development Board and the Forestry Division of Arizona State College.

Though lumbering now accounts for Arizona's fourth largest industrial payroll and contributes some $30 million to the overall economy of the state, the study report concludes that the surface has barely been scratched.

It shows that, despite its wealth of raw material, the state has virtually no so-called "secondary" wood products industries.

More than 99 percent of the present timber output is sawmilled into lumber, and 90 percent of that is shipped to other states "often to be processed or remanufactuied and shipped back into Arizona for ultimate consumption."

The report, co-ordinated by ASC's Dr. Charles O. Minor and Edward P. Enders, Industrial Director of the Arizona Development Board, with the help of other state and federal forestry experts, points out that at least a dozen other wood industries could be supported without depleting Arizona's forest resources.

Among those suggested were:

Plywood Manufacturing-The study found that veneering of any sort was "practically unexplored" in Arizona. Yet the state has a good growth of aspen, widely used in other areas for both container and commercial grade veneer.

Pole Processing-Surveys by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs estimate that in two areas. Arizona has a yield capacity of more than 80,000 poles per year. Despite this potential, the state must currently import ivery communications and power pole it uses because it has n-o commercial pressure-treating plant. The report estimates the in-state demand alone at 25,W to 30,000 poles annually.

Fence Posts-Though Arizona has an almost limitless supply of such fence post timbers as juniper, pinon pine and ponderosa, it still imports 40 percent of its annual demand for lack of treating plant facilities.

Secondary Manufacture-The report points out that the state has both the raw materials and natural market for pine and juniper furniture, architectural woodwork, paneling, cabinet work and even toys. Practically no such finished wood products are now produced in Arizona.

Naval Stores-Though admitting it is in the future, Dr. Minor and his associates say "the resource potential of this industry is considerable." The industry, now located almost entirely in the South, involves the recovery of resin, turpentine, pine oil and charcoal from sap and stumpage.

The report lists a fistful of other sidebar wood industries such as charcoal manufacturing, oil and gum .processing, soil supplement production, and expanded Christmas tree marketing which the experts feel would bolster the state's economy and create new industrial payrolls.

Development Board Director, Bernard M. Mergen, said the study would be used to entice such industries to take a closer look at Arizona's raw material and market potential for forest products.

A similar Development Board study of scrap metal resources, resulted in the Western Rolling Mill Division of Yuba Industries locating a steel plant south of Tempe.