In the News

Looking for Firefighters

DNR is looking for courageous, motivated men and women to join us in our efforts to protect 13 million acres of Washington lands from wildfires this coming summer. You must be 18 years old, have a high school diploma and a driver’s license, and be able to purchase lace boots with Vibram soles.

The application that you fill out on DNR’s jobs webpage will ask for basic information such as education, past work history, and references, and it will include a simple questionnaire. For more information, visit 
http://www.dnr.wa.gov/employment/jobs.

Port of Longview Expansion

The Port of Longview has big plans for improving vital assets this year, including continued work on both the Industrial Rail Corridor (IRC) expansion and Berth 4 redevelopment.

This year the Port allocated $570,000 toward the expansion of the Industrial Rail Corridor, the main rail artery serving port facilities. Adding additional through-track and sidings allows the Port to better serve existing customers and increases the appeal of doing business for future customers. The IRC was originally constructed in the early 2000s and was vital in securing EGT as an anchor tenant at the Port of Longview.

In addition to the IRC expansion, redevelopment continues at Berth 4. The Port began the redevelopment project in 2012, completing demolition of the old dock and construction of a new layberth. This year kicks off Phase II of the redevelopment, including a full-site hazard assessment and estimate for upland demolition of the silos and adjacent facilities.

Will GOP End Fire Borrowing

“It’s easy to throw resources at a big, massive fire, but it’s not a smart way to use resources,” said outgoing Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise. She said she finds it “very frustrating” that Congress still hasn’t found a way to stabilize wildfire prevention programs despite years of pressure and bipartisan agreement.

“I will remain optimistic that when we have full control by one party, that there’s no one to blame but themselves for not moving forward on this issue,” Jewell told reporters. She noted that the issue “has been bipartisan, but very much impacts people in the West—and the Republican Party is well-represented in the West, so perhaps we’ll see some movement.”

To date there is no fire budget for 2017. She added, “We have a continuing resolution, which is the 2016 budget going forward. So we can do what we do every year, which is pray that the fire season won’t be so bad, and that we’ll be able to continue our work on prevention, which of course stops this spiral from escalating.”

West Coast Leads the Top U.S. Housing Markets

The latest predictions by Veros Real Estate Solutions dovetail other recent forecasts, that home price appreciation will be heavily led by the West, along with smaller markets away from the coasts.

Seattle seems to consistently appear near or at the top of everyone’s list as the hottest market for the year ahead as the city swells in size, driven by solid employment opportunities and wage growth, which is squeezing supplies and forcing prices upward.

U.S. International Trade Commission Continues Investigation

In January, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) decided there was a reasonable indication that the U.S. domestic industry was being materially injured by imports of softwood lumber products from Canada that are allegedly subsidized and sold in the United States at less than fair value.

As a result of the ITC’s affirmative determinations, the Department of Commerce will continue to conduct its antidumping duty (AD) and anti-subsidy countervailing duty (CVD) investigations on the imports, with its CVD decision due on February 20, 2017, and its preliminary AD margin determination due on May 4, 2017.

Loan from New Fund to Support Oregon Mills

Oregon Business reported that the first loan from a new fund designed to speed the harvesting and processing of Western Juniper has been issued to a wood processor — Jim Epley of Spray, Oregon.

The Western Juniper Industry Fund was established by the Oregon Legislature in 2015 to provide economic assistance to wood processors in Central and Eastern Oregon in order to speed the harvesting and processing of Western Juniper. A native tree east of the Cascades, Western Juniper has overtaken rangeland and critical habitat in recent decades due to fire suppression efforts.

Because each Western Juniper tree can absorb up to 35 gallons of water a day, harvesting the tree provides both environmental benefits and also creates much-needed jobs in rural communities.