CHINESE CAMP, California – With declining timber harvests on public lands some years ago, Sierra Pacific Industries was faced with a tough decision about the future of its lumber mill in Chinese Camp, California.

However, instead of closing the sawmill, the company pivoted, retrofitting the plant to manufacture a different product; fencing. Today it is one of two Sierra Pacific mills manufacturing fencing material. The Chinese Camp mill made an important upgrade a couple of years ago, replacing an antiquated resaw with a new machine from Wisconsin-based McDonough Manufacturing Co.

Chinese Camp is located roughly 100 miles southeast of Sacramento and on the western edge of the Stanislaus National Forest. There are two other national forests in the region, Eldorado to the north and Sierra to the south. A Sierra Pacific mill in Oroville, approximately 70 miles north of Sacramento, also manufactures fencing.

Sierra Pacific Industries is headquartered in Anderson in northern California and has 18 sawmills and related facilities in California, Oregon, and Washington. In addition the company has a newly constructed conifer nursery and seed center, four millwork plants, four plants that manufacture windows and doors, eight cogeneration plants, 12 truck terminals and shops, and an engineering, technology and fabrication shop, and a highly skilled workforce.

Sierra Pacific is in the third generation of ownership by the Emmerson family. It was co-founded in 1949 by R. H. Emmerson and his son, A. A. ‘Red’ Emmerson, the long-term CEO, who now serves as president and chairman emeritus. Their first sawmill, financed with a $10,000 loan, was in Humboldt County. The company did business as R.H. Emmerson & Son until the name was changed to Sierra Pacific Industries in 1969.

Sierra Pacific is the largest private forestland owner in the U.S. and the largest private landholder in California. It owns and manages more than 2.4 million acres of timberland in California, Oregon and Washington. Sierra Pacific is the largest forest products company in California, with 1.9 million acres of timberlands, several manufacturing operations, and about 3,700 employees.

The company is the third-largest lumber manufacturer in the U.S., employing more than 6,200 people. It is also among the largest manufacturers of millwork, wood windows and doors, and biomass cogeneration energy.

Sierra Pacific has 18 mills in California, Oregon, and Washington. They manufacture everything from timbers and framing lumber to fencing and specialty products. Every mill utilizes state-of-the-art technology that optimizes each log to produce the highest quality boards. Modern computer-controlled kilns dry the lumber produced in the sawmills.

Sierra Pacific is a certified participant in the independent Sustainable Forestry Initiative and is committed to sustainable forest management while providing quality wood products and renewable power for consumers. It plants between 8 and 12 million new trees annually across its ownership. It plants multiple native species, including Douglas fir, white fir, hemlock, ponderosa pine, sugar pine and incense cedar, to maintain biological diversity. Seedlings are grown from seed sources found close to each harvested area, assuring they will be conditioned to the environment where they originated. Sierra Pacific recently announced the planting of its 300 millionth tree.

The Chinese Camp mill facilities are located on 91 acres and comprise three buildings – the sawmill, a warehouse, and a machine shop. The operations employ 132 people. The mill manufactures fencing made of incense cedar, white fir, and ponderosa pine. It is available in six styles and various grades, and widths, in lengths ranging from 4 feet to 10 feet. The most popular product is incense 1×6 incense cedar 6 feet long in a picket style. All fencing is sold green.

The plant originally was a dimension lumber mill. In the years leading up to 2008, reduced timber harvesting on public land made operating the Chinese Camp mill difficult. Instead of closing the mill, Sierra Pacific converted it to manufacture fencing lumber. The mill was completely retooled, equipped with new or refurbished equipment. The most recent upgrade was the installation of a McDonough twin horizontal band resaw in 2022.

Logs come from timber harvested on Sierra Pacific forestland as well as U.S. Forest Service timber sales. All timber harvesting is done by logging contractors. Timber harvests are overseen by the company’s forestry department.

The mill processes logs 5-28 inches in diameter up to 36 feet long in multiples of 6 feet. Logs are separated by species and stacked in the log yard. When they are ready to be milled, they are put on a log deck that carries them to a Nicholson A5 debarker. A Caterpillar 988k wheel loader is used in the log yard, doing double duty to unload trucks and stage logs on the debarker log deck. After debarking the log is conveyed to a shop-built chop saw and bucked in multiples of 6 feet.

Transferred to an infeed deck, in the mill the log is scanned in order to be optimized and picked up by the end dogs – the end-dogging carriage also was built by Sierra Pacific staff – and guided through a pair of Kockum 5-foot band mills to remove two sides. The Kockum band mills move in and out in response to the optimized controls.

The next stop for the two-sided cant is a gang-edger – custom-built by the company’s machinery fabrication department – that makes center cuts to produce 1×6 pickets, ⅝-inch thick. The side board material goes to a McGehee (now USNR) edger to cut 1×4 and 1×6. Larger side board material is routed to the McDonough resaw to be cut down before going to the edger.

Boards that will have a dog ear finish go to one of two lines, and 24-inch circular saws make those angle cuts automatically. Pickets that will have a Gothic style finish on one end run through a tenor or pointer. The pickets are sorted and stacked automatically.

The machine centers – end-dogging carriage, edger, trimmer, and dog ear saws – all are equipped with scanners and optimization systems.

Some fencing is finished with one of several shades of stain. White fir and ponderosa pine can be stained inline shades of red and gold before it is stacked and packaged. (Sierra Pacific personnel also built the stacking equipment.)

There is a package kiln on site to heat-treat some material – mainly for fencing that will be exported, noted Russ Lee, south Sierra area manager with oversight of Sierra Pacific operations in the region.

Heat-treating ensures the material is free of insects. It is also used to heat-treat some stock to make pencils.

Scrap material from the mill operations is collected and fed via a vibratory conveyor into a Bruks Siwertell chipper.

All wood fiber – 100 percent of the log – is used. “With today’s technology there’s no waste,” said Will Lanier, the division manager overseeing the mill. Chips are supplied to a business that uses the material for playground surfaces, and bark and sawdust are supplied to another company that uses it to make mulch and garden products. Some sawdust is supplied for fuel to an off-site biomass plant that produces electricity that is sold on the open market.

In a significant move towards modernizing their operations, Sierra Pacific has replaced their outdated band resaw with a new McDonough twin horizontal band resaw. This decision was driven by a strong desire for enhanced efficiency and increased production capabilities.

“We were seeking improved efficiency and increased production, and McDonough was the right machine for us,” said Mark Luster, Community Relations Manager for Sierra Pacific. The McDonough resaw not only boosts operational speed but also delivers a superior finished product, as noted by Lanier.

Founded in 1888 by Frank McDonough, McDonough Manufacturing has a rich history of innovation in sawmill equipment. Frank McDonough secured a patent for the first linebar resaw in 1892, laying the foundation for a company that now offers sawmill equipment, including carriages, band mills, resaws, gangs and edgers, and material handling equipment.

Lanier highlighted the resaw’s exceptional productivity, stating, “We can cut three pieces when needed if the piece is thick enough, which is very productive.” The saw positioned furthest from the operator is mounted on a rail with a cylinder, allowing it to move the bandmill backwards and out of the way when blade changes are necessary.

“This machine has performed very well,” Lanier continued. “Maintenance is really simple. No major problems. Plus, the most important thing is the lumber sizes. There’s hardly any deviation.”

With this upgrade, Sierra Pacific is poised to achieve greater operational efficiency, ensuring they remain at the forefront of the industry with both increased production and superior product quality.

As noted above, Sierra Pacific has extensive design and fabrication capabilities in-house to engineer and build equipment at its facilities in Anderson. Sierra Pacific personnel even designed and built the optimization systems for the Chinese Camp machine centers, including scanners. “We are self-sufficient in almost everything we do, from machine centers to optimization,” noted Lanier. “We have a very talented fab shop.” In addition, being able to rely on its own personnel for troubleshooting, maintenance and repairs means the company has less downtime, he said.

“The fab shop does most of the controls,” added Lanier. However, several machine centers at Chinese Camp are equipped with Temposonic linear positioning sensors from Paw Taw John Services for the Purakal Cylinders hydraulic cylinders.

The mill’s products are shipped throughout the U.S. and as far as the East Coast to ‘big box’ home improvement stores – such as distribution centers for Home Depot – and independent lumber yards and other customers.

High inflation and mortgage rates have dampened lumber demand. “As an industry, we’re experiencing a downturn,” said Lanier.

The company is “strategically looking to invest in operations,” said Lanier. “We’re continuing to look at making improvements when appropriate.”

The company’s biggest challenges are labor and inflation. “Attracting and developing skilled workers and controlling costs due to inflation,” said Lanier. “Those two are a big challenge.”

Red, who is in his 90s, remains involved in the company and visits the mill on occasion. He has “given a lot of opportunities to his employees over the years,” said Lee.

“Everybody feels this way,” added Lanier. “The owners created an environment of opportunity for crew members…It’s just how it is…The company does well for their crew, and it’s a great place to work.”