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WOPR One Year Later – Nine Logging Mills Still Stuck in the Past

Some logging companies still think “no log is too big”

The report coincides with an Obama administration task force report release that fails to fully close the door on old-growth logging on public lands.

One year ago the federal government scrapped a Bush administration plan to ramp up old-growth logging in western Oregon. Today, an Obama administration task force unveiled its recommendations for future management of these Bureau of Land Management (BLM) forests. The task force calls for a focus on non-controversial restoration thinning sales in the immediate future, but leaves the door open to future old-growth logging.

Also today, the conservation group Oregon Wild turned the spotlight on a faction of the logging industry still clamoring for old-growth logs. In their report, Logjam: Nine Oregon Logging Mills Stuck in the Past, Oregon Wild examines the milling capability and desired log diameter of 74 primary processing facilities in the state. Mills are declared a “severe” threat when they have some combination of high minimum log diameter, high preferred log diameter, and high maximum log diameter, all characteristics of old-growth trees.

“It’s 2010 – if you’re still counting on old-growth logging to supply your mill, you need a new business model,” said Andy Kerr with the Larch Company who compiled the report.

The nine mills scoring as “severe” threats are: C&D Lumber Company in Riddle, D.R. Johnson Lumber Company (Round Prairie) in Riddle, Herbert Lumber Co. in Riddle, Hull-Oakes Lumber Co. in Monroe, Oregon Overseas Lumber Co. Inc. in Bandon, Rough & Ready Lumber Co. in Cave Junction, Starfire Lumber Co. Inc. in Cottage Grove, Swanson Bros Lumber Co. in Noti, and Zip-O-Logs Mills Co. in Eugene. Three of the mills are located in Lane County, three in Douglas County, and one each in Benton, Coos, and Josephine Counties.

Data was collected primarily from the Oregon Forest Directory, a self-reporting online repository of mill information. Four of the mills had no maximum diameter listed, two accept logs up to five feet in diameter, and three report no upper size limit. Swanson Bros Lumber Co. specifically brags that “no log is too large.”

“With so little old-growth remaining in Oregon and so many opportunities for conservation-based thinning in younger stands, these mill owners shouldn’t be wearing their desire to log ancient forests as a badge of honor,” added Kerr. “Owning an old-growth liquidating mill is a badge of shame.”

Old-growth logging reached its peak in the 1980s, when two square miles of Oregon of ancient forest fell to chainsaws every week. In 1994, implementation of the Northwest Forest Plan slowed old-growth liquidation, but did not stop it. Since that time, over 700,000 acres of mature and old-growth forest have been cut down on private and public land in Oregon. Today, up to 90% of the state’s historic old growth is gone.

Demand for large logs from this handful of old-growth logging mills continues to fuel conflict and controversy. Old-growth stands on state and private land in Oregon have largely been liquidated. Some mills have imported old-growth logs from as far away as Vancouver Island, while ratcheting up political pressure on the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to allow expanding logging of remaining old-growth stands on federal public lands in Oregon. Their hunger for old-growth was a major factor behind the Bush administration’s discredited Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) proposal that would have dismantled the Northwest Forest Plan in favor of a return to old-growth logging.

While some logging operations remain stuck in the past, many mills have modernized. Since 1997, the Siuslaw National Forest in Oregon’s Coast Range has planned and carried out stewardship timber sales focusing on restoration thinning in younger stands. With a focus on collaboration and restoration, the Siuslaw has consistently ranked as the highest timber producer in the Northwest without having a single timber sale appealed. Similarly, Senator Ron Wyden’s Oregon Eastside Forest Restoration, Old-Growth Protection, and Jobs Act currently making its way through Congress would focus management on returning forests to a more natural state while keeping old growth standing. The legislation has the support of numerous timber interests and environmental organizations.

“Ecological restoration thinning has been a big winner for forward-looking logging companies, generating jobs and profits without conflict and controversy” concluded Steve Pedery, conservation director for Oregon Wild. “If these mills wish to continue to produce profits for their owners and jobs for rural communities, they must modernize and accept the reality that old-growth logging is a thing of the past.”

Read the full report here:
Logjam: Nine Oregon Logging Mills Stuck in the Past

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