In The News

Vaagen to Start New Mass Timber Company

Russ Vaagen, Vaagen Timbers founder and CEO, is starting a new company producing mass timber products.

Capital Press reported that Vaagen sees the use of wood in homes, not only as an ideal building material for apartments and buildings, but also a way to remind urban and suburban consumers about the importance of the rural timber industry.

“These products allow us to tell a story so the consumer really understands and makes that connection: ‘I’m living in this apartment, and it’s made of wood, and it ... supports healthy forests and healthy communities,” Vaagen said.

He foresees the timber going into mid-rise apartments and commercial structures ranging from four to 10 stories.

Vaagen expects to use roughly 30 million board-feet of timber per year at first, with room for growth.

Mass timber products also have another benefit — they use smaller logs. Using smaller logs benefits inland forests where restoration is needed, thinning the small trees in the dense under story and leaving the biggest and best trees more fire resistant.

Davis Named Interim Dean at OSU Forestry School

Oregon State University (OSU) College of Forestry Acting Dean Anthony S. Davis has been named interim dean while the university launches an international search for a permanent dean.

Davis came to OSU from the University of Idaho in July 2016 as associate dean for research and was promoted to executive associate dean a year later. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Brunswick and earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Purdue University.

“Anthony takes on the interim dean’s role with my full confidence that he will advance the college’s progress toward its goals, including the completion of the Forest Science Complex, as we prepare for an international search,” OSU Provost and Executive Vice President Ed Feser said in a news release.

Mill Expanding in Eastern Oregon

Woodgrain Millworks is in the process of purchasing two lumber mills and a particle board operation — all located in eastern Oregon — from Boise Cascade.

The Independent Enterprise reported that a Fruitland-based mill is getting closer to expanding its footprint. Although final plans are still being ironed out, a top official said, “log procurement” is a big part of that expansion.

“Our objective as a company is to be vertically integrated,” Tanner Dame, COO for Woodgrain, said in a recent phone interview with the Argus. “This is kind of a big step in continuing down that strategy.”

Daines Seeks End to Fringe Litigation

In early October, the Republican majority on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources narrowly passed a bill by Sen. Steve Daines. The Missoula Current reported that the bill seeks to end what the Montana lawmaker describes as an endless barrage of lawsuits filed by fringe environmental groups against timber projects that enjoy collaborative support.

Daines’ bill cleared the committee on a bipartisan 13-10 vote and would establish a five-year pilot program allowing arbitration to occur on two litigated Forest Service projects each year. The two projects must be located in Montana, Idaho, or Wyoming.

“Litigation from a few fringe groups is having a devastating impact on Montana,” Daines told the committee. “It’s a constant, unending barrage of lawsuits, now spanning more than a decade, and it’s hurting our forests and crushing our wood products communities. We have, in essence, replaced loggers with lawyers.”

USNR Is Expanding

USNR is expanding its operations once again, this time at its facility in Eugene, Oregon. The investment moves its existing operation to a new, expanded facility that will be outfitted to meet the growing needs of their business.

The Eugene facility is home to a thriving team that supports and advances their optimization and veneer handling activities. It is the U.S. base for USNR’s optimization technology, from hardwood, shop and moulding, and green lumber grade scanning, to veneer scanning and grading solutions. From logs to lumber and blocks to dry veneer, the Eugene team has a key role in the development of innovations for the solid wood and engineered wood industries.

The new facility encompasses over 60,000 sq. ft., situated on 3.2 acres. The majority of the space will house electrical manufacturing, with the remainder for engineering, R&D and training facilities, warehousing, and sales offices. The new facility is expected to be operational in January 2019.