I was in Washington State last week for a high school reunion. I learned that all of the lumber mills in the area had been shut down because of the adverse logging regulations enacted over the past 40 plus years.
Meanwhile, the tree huggers are whining today about the high prices of houses.
And the size of forest fires have been growing over the past 40 plus years. When loggers cannot harvest sustainable trees, no roads are built or maintained in the forests. That is one of several reasons why forest fires are becoming larger.
“I was in Washington State last week for a high school reunion. I learned that all of the lumber mills in the area had been shut down because of the adverse logging regulations enacted over the past 40 plus years.”
Your buddy gave you fake info!
We drove to Coeur d’Alene, ID this morning on US-95. The number of lumber trucks heading north on 95 to the Chico Mill in Athol, Idaho is amazing.
I am not sure where in WA state you are referring to. I am buying lumber from several mills in WA, ID, OR. MT.
The main thing in the lumber industry is consolidation. Especially in the last ten years.
Whether it is in Canada, US, Europe.
West Fraser, Canfor, Interfor, Mercer, Binder, Weyerheauser, Sierra Pacific, Stimson, Idaho Forest Group, Potlatch/Deltic, Resolute, Lebel, Schwaiger, GP, Western Forest Products, Teal Jones, Dunkley, etc.
All of these saw milling corporations have gotten larger. Either by building new sawmills in the southern USA or buying out the smaller mills.
I have been a lumber broker for 40 years. I can not even begin to name the mills that have gone out of business. Some because of restrictions/reductions in public timber. Many just because they did not reinvest to make their operations more efficient. Therefore, they were not making any money when bigger mills were. Enabling the larger mill to pay more for the timber than they could.
In MT there were 25 sawmills at one point. Now there are FOUR. FH Stoltz in Columbia Falls, Weyco in Kalispell, Sun Mtn in Deer Lodge and Livingston. All the others went out of business because the lack of public timber being sold by the government. Federal and state. The last three used to be owned by other companies when there were built.
In WA Western Forest products sawmill at Columbia Vista just burned two days ago. This was a Douglas Fir cutting mill that made a lot of export metric sized timbers. The Japanese export market is really depressed. So, it is questionable whether they will rebuild.
Woodgrain just announced the closure of their Pilot Rock, OR sawmill a few days ago. This was an old line mill that Woodgrain purchased from Boise Cascade seven years ago along with two a mill in La Grande, OR and Emmett, ID.
My understanding is they will increase their production at La Grande. Woodgrain is the largest producer of solid wood doors. They also make windows and other mill work. They also bought Huddig distribution a few years back.
So, Woodgrain is a vertically integrated privately held corp.
So, to sum up. The big mills keep getting bigger and buying up the smaller mills or forcing them to close. Just like the game of MONOPOLY.