Forest Products
Historically, the major portion of Central Oregon’s non-farm economy was based on the harvest of the region’s vast forests and the “primary” processing of those logs at large sawmills – in fact, the Brooks-Scanlon and Shevlin-Hixon mills were some of the the world’s largest, together producing over 500 million board feet of lumber per year. Over time, a host of “secondary” and even “tertiary” wood products industries were also established in the region – these facilities utilized the lumber produced at the primary mills to produce value added products such as trim, moldings, and window frames for export into external markets.
Today, these industries are still present in Central Oregon, albeit at a much smaller scale than in the past. Factors in the dimunition of the industry include environmental regulations meant to protect wildlife habitats and other ecosystem values, over-harvest of larger trees, and structural changes to international lumber and secondary products markets. But while the forest products industry no longer dominates the local economy, it is still critical to the region – both for the jobs it provides and the role it can play in restoring local forest ecosystems (see the COPWRR section for more information on the role that forest products industries can play in restoring the health of forest ecosystems).
“Primary” Forest Products Facilities
Central Oregon’s primary forest products processors include two industrial-scale sawmills (Interfor in Gilchrist and Warm Springs Forest Products in Warm Springs), the Stafford Weyerhauser chip facility and the mid-scale Prineville Sawmill in Prineville, and a host of smaller primary processors including post and pole and firewood facilities, small craft log cabin outfits, animal bedding, and other similar operations. In addition, several of the sawmills utilize woody biomass (very small trees, logging slash, and mill residue) to provide electricity and heat for their operations and, to a limited extent, to sell electricity to the grid (See COIC’s renewable energy section for more information on woody biomass power).
Secondary Wood Products Facilities
Secondary wood products firms are in nearly every community in the region, and include facilities operated by some of the industry’s largest windows and trim/moulding firms; as well as flooring, trusses, engineered lumber, cabinets, and furniture. Unlike in the past, the majority of these firms do not utilize local lumber manufactured by the region’s primary sawmills.
COIC is assisting the development of the wood products industry in a wide variety of ways, including:
Supply assistance – The Coordinated Resource Offering Protocol (CROP) provides estimate of local annual log/biomass supply. Furthermore, COIC staff have helped facilitate supply/demand connections between local contractors and local processors. We are also working to re-connect Central Oregon’s primary and secondary wood products processors, thus eliminating expensive imports of foreign wood.
Incentives and Loans – COIC staff provide assistance in navigating and securing state and federal businss development incentive programs , including grants, tax credits, and low-interest loans for feasibility studies, business plans, market development, engineering and designs, capital investments (equipment, infrastructure), and workforce training.
Central Oregon Partnerships for Wildfire Risk Reduction – see the COPWRR page.
Biomass Power and Biofuels – see the Renewable Energy and the Biomass/Biofuels pages.
For more information contact:
Phil Chang, pchang@coic.org, 541-548-9534
