forestryworks
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ASTORIA — The timber market on the North Coast has deteriorated to the point where
industry experts say they don’t even know how much a log is worth anymore.
How can you put a price on something nobody wants?
The depressed housing market has stunted demand for lumber, leaving just a trickle
of business for local sawmills and little reason for loggers to harvest additional
timber in Clatsop County.
Local sawmills have curtailed operations while the market slumps, sending workers
home for weeks at a time while the industry waits for a recovery.
But aside from some hope for construction triggered by federal stimulus funds,
there’s no reprieve in sight.
“It’s brutal,” said Jay Browning, owner of J.M. Browning Logging in Knappa and a
companion trucking business. “I really have to wonder about my company. Where will
my company be a year from now?”
Browning said his payroll went from $1 million a month at its peak to $170,000
last month. He’s had to lay off around 90 people.
“In the last four months, we’ve worked maybe four weeks,” he said. “We bought a
lot of equipment in the last year to clean up all the storm damage. Now, not all
the storm damage is going to get cleaned up because the price of lumber is less
than the manufacturing cost of the logs out there.”
But as tough as it is to be a logger right now, Browning said, it’s even tougher
owning a sawmill.
“It’s a very, very difficult market,” said Steve Zika, chief executive officer of
Hampton Affiliates, which owns a sawmill in Tillamook. “We have not experienced
anything like this before.”
Hampton is taking a lot of down time at its mills but hasn’t announced any permanent
closures.
Mills on the South Coast have taken week-long downtimes starting the end of 2008 and
continuing into this year.
“We’re balancing our supply against demand,” said Weyerhaeuser spokesman Greg Miller
about the company’s Warrenton sawmill. “The marketplace is significantly off. We’ll
continue to ship lumber orders and a small amount of the work force will remain on
hand for shipments.”
He could not comment on the long-term viability of the mill. In recent months
Weyerhaeuser has announced permanent closures of several mills in the region,
including one in Aberdeen, Wash.
With so few mills buying logs at all, the value of trees in the ground is virtually nil.
“Right now I doubt you could get a price from anybody because very few mills are taking
logs at this time,” said Ty Williams, a unit forester for the Oregon Department of
Forestry’s Astoria District. “The markets are flooded. All the wholesalers, their
warehouses are full. Mill yards are at capacity. They can’t take any more logs in their
yards. They’re starting to stack up in the woods. It’s real bleak.”
The department is putting extra effort into marketing timber for utility poles, which
could see a bump in demand as federal stimulus money funds more infrastructure and clean
energy projects.
Utility pole timber has a much higher value than lumber, but it’s also held to higher
standards of size and shape.
Only 15 percent of the available volume in the Clatsop State Forest will meet utility
pole specifications, said Williams.
The Astoria District had planned to auction a timber stand in March.
“I don’t know whether it will sell or not,” Williams said.
industry experts say they don’t even know how much a log is worth anymore.
How can you put a price on something nobody wants?
The depressed housing market has stunted demand for lumber, leaving just a trickle
of business for local sawmills and little reason for loggers to harvest additional
timber in Clatsop County.
Local sawmills have curtailed operations while the market slumps, sending workers
home for weeks at a time while the industry waits for a recovery.
But aside from some hope for construction triggered by federal stimulus funds,
there’s no reprieve in sight.
“It’s brutal,” said Jay Browning, owner of J.M. Browning Logging in Knappa and a
companion trucking business. “I really have to wonder about my company. Where will
my company be a year from now?”
Browning said his payroll went from $1 million a month at its peak to $170,000
last month. He’s had to lay off around 90 people.
“In the last four months, we’ve worked maybe four weeks,” he said. “We bought a
lot of equipment in the last year to clean up all the storm damage. Now, not all
the storm damage is going to get cleaned up because the price of lumber is less
than the manufacturing cost of the logs out there.”
But as tough as it is to be a logger right now, Browning said, it’s even tougher
owning a sawmill.
“It’s a very, very difficult market,” said Steve Zika, chief executive officer of
Hampton Affiliates, which owns a sawmill in Tillamook. “We have not experienced
anything like this before.”
Hampton is taking a lot of down time at its mills but hasn’t announced any permanent
closures.
Mills on the South Coast have taken week-long downtimes starting the end of 2008 and
continuing into this year.
“We’re balancing our supply against demand,” said Weyerhaeuser spokesman Greg Miller
about the company’s Warrenton sawmill. “The marketplace is significantly off. We’ll
continue to ship lumber orders and a small amount of the work force will remain on
hand for shipments.”
He could not comment on the long-term viability of the mill. In recent months
Weyerhaeuser has announced permanent closures of several mills in the region,
including one in Aberdeen, Wash.
With so few mills buying logs at all, the value of trees in the ground is virtually nil.
“Right now I doubt you could get a price from anybody because very few mills are taking
logs at this time,” said Ty Williams, a unit forester for the Oregon Department of
Forestry’s Astoria District. “The markets are flooded. All the wholesalers, their
warehouses are full. Mill yards are at capacity. They can’t take any more logs in their
yards. They’re starting to stack up in the woods. It’s real bleak.”
The department is putting extra effort into marketing timber for utility poles, which
could see a bump in demand as federal stimulus money funds more infrastructure and clean
energy projects.
Utility pole timber has a much higher value than lumber, but it’s also held to higher
standards of size and shape.
Only 15 percent of the available volume in the Clatsop State Forest will meet utility
pole specifications, said Williams.
The Astoria District had planned to auction a timber stand in March.
“I don’t know whether it will sell or not,” Williams said.
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