Small Log Conference Delivers Reality Check

By Barbara Coyner

Will the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) provide a steady supply of small-diameter logs? Should companies invest in small log processing equipment in the face of uncertain politics? And can the U.S. actually do something about wildfire danger and overstocked forests in the West? With cautious optimism, 150 participants gathered in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho for the Small Log Utilization Conference initiated by TimberWest. Three days jam-packed with networking and presentations encouraged forest-related interests to take their best shots at solving the nation’s public forest problems, and overcoming the gridlock that has nearly decimated Western timber industry infrastructure. “We want to really think outside the box,” said conference co-chair Catherine Mater of Mater Engineering in Corvallis, Ore. “Right now there are small log conferences going on all over, but at this one, we’ll explore ideas you can implement within 12 months. We’re looking for practical solutions and we’ll identify the people doing the deals, doing what others said couldn’t be done. These are people delivering the goods, people instigating technology even when others said it couldn’t happen. We want you to take off the gloves, get the questions out and let’s deliver.”

The international conference attracted delegates from Finland, Canada and far away states such as New Mexico and Indiana. As Will Hamilton of the American Forest Resource Council observed, the typical conference attendee was “innovative, independent, connected with local communities and willing to seize new opportunities.”

Addressing the Gridlock Problem
Tackling the issues of the HFRA and levelized supply, the BLM’s Forest Health Program Manager Rick Tholen emphasized, “At this point in time the stars are aligned to do active forest management. This is not about opening up roadless areas, cutting old growth or giving a gift to the timber industry. And it’s not just about thinning in the urban interface. We can’t neglect fish and wildlife, water quality and the health of the whole forest.” “Levelized supply” surfaced in nearly every discussion, because, as people agreed, no one wants to invest in infrastructure and new ventures without the guarantee of steady supply. Catherine Mater’s new Coordinated Resource Offering Protocol (CROP), recently on trial in Arizona and Oregon, furnishes a model for coordinating agencies, as well as species, diameter, and volume. In other words, CROP offers a practical system for delivery of wood. Given a trial run, the model for efficiency might be just the ticket for paralyzed federal agencies. Conference co-chair Duane Vaagen presented “Fibervision,” a template for forest stewardship, sound economics and community revitalization. 

Addressing the Gridlock Problem Tackling the issues of the HFRA and levelized supply, the BLM’s Forest Health Program Manager Rick Tholen emphasized, “At this point in time the stars are aligned to do active forest management. This is not about opening up roadless areas, cutting old growth or giving a gift to the timber industry. And it’s not just about thinning in the urban interface. We can’t neglect fish and wildlife, water quality and the health of the whole forest.” “Levelized supply” surfaced in nearly every discussion, because, as people agreed, no one wants to invest in infrastructure and new ventures without the guarantee of steady supply. Catherine Mater’s new Coordinated Resource Offering Protocol (CROP), recently on trial in Arizona and Oregon, furnishes a model for coordinating agencies, as well as species, diameter, and volume. In other words, CROP offers a practical system for delivery of wood. Given a trial run, the model for efficiency might be just the ticket for paralyzed federal agencies. Conference co-chair Duane Vaagen presented “Fibervision,” a template for forest stewardship, sound economics and community revitalization.

Is Community-Based Stewardship the Answer?
Tidwell and Tholen advanced stewardship projects such as the 800- acre restoration project at Elk City, Idaho, as possibilities for “doing something.” Yet Liz Johnson-Gebhardt, speaking for the Lakeface Lamb Stewardship Project at Priest River, Idaho, reminded the audience that such projects suffer under the Forest Service’s lack of expertise in administering the evolving programs. New rules, monitoring requirements and procedural steps can cost contractors time and money, she said, adding, “We’ve had lots of little problems that we hope will be lessons learned.” Twisp, Wash. attorney Jim Doran, of the Colville Community Forestry Coalition, weighed in on stewardship, praising the goods-for-services concept and community collaboration angles. “But we want to get on the ground and start doing things,” he stressed. “We don’t want to keep studying.”

Dinner speaker Jim Petersen of Evergreen magazine appraised the situation more bluntly. “Remember, some 68 million acres of federal forestlands in the West need treatment, some 28 million sooner than later. We will never get ahead of this crisis if we persist in our 10-acres-at-a-time incubator approach. We have to ramp up ecologically and economically.” What Are Others Doing in Forest Management? Conference-goers also looked at what sustainable forestry can be. Timo Riihela, of Finnforest Corporation in Finland, noted that northern European countries have practiced stewardship concepts for decades, intensively managing forests for both ecological health and a vibrant economy.

Family-owned forests produce most of Finland’s wood fiber, and government mandates require a regeneration plan, Riihela said. Representatives of the Yakama Nation and the Warm Springs Tribe expanded on the community-based ideas, acknowledging that they are fast-tracking thinning operations on their lands to reduce fire danger and net a profit for tribal programs and enrichment projects. A primary obstacle that tribal land managers face is dealing with unmanaged federal lands adjacent to their own. In these border zones, wildfire dangers remain.

What Do We Do With All That Wood?
Potential ideas of what to do with all the excess wood fiber played to a receptive audience, and speaker Jeff Garver, of Savannah Pacific Corporation of Arizona, told the group, “One third of what’s taken out of the woods won’t be sawlogs, it’ll be biomass.” From backyard experiments to international enterprises, biomass and wood wastes have been in the crosshairs of entrepreneurs for years. Baseline International showed off cabinet doors made of wood wastes, crushed sunflower seeds and straw during the Suppliers Showcase, while engineers and equipment dealers featured their own “how-to” ideas in exhibits.

Practical solutions captured the interest of conference participants like Jeff Connally, foreman for Mike Reynolds Logging and Priest River City Council member, who said he dreamed of attracting a company such as Baseline to his community. As speaker Tom Cripe of Washington based Pacific Hardwood passed around manufactured wood made of radiata pine waste, Connolly marveled at the strength of the new product. The biomass discussion, not surprisingly, concentrated on possibilities for energy production, and Todd Brinkmeyer of Plummer, Idaho’s Plummer Forest Products, trotted out real facts and figures from his own established operation. Like Vaagen, he runs a small log mill that utilizes wood-powered energy from cogeneration. “A little plant like ours can work if you can get the resource, and in the long term, our prospects are good for biomass power,” said Brinkmeyer. “But it’s not viable without a sawmill.” Brinkmeyer stressed that chips have more economic value on the general market than for energy generation, and biomass power can’t yet compete with cheaper hydroelectric power. “Biomass energy isn’t the silver bullet across the U.S. and it’s just not penciling out,” said Mater, who has analyzed the concept in-depth.

Testing Theories in the Northwest
Intermountain Forest Association’s Jim Riley suggested designating a 150- mile radius around Coeur d’Alene as a test plot for small log utilization. He pointed out that Vaagen’s mill at Colville, Brinkmeyer’s at Plummer, and Ponderay Valley Fibre at Usk, Wash., offer proven track records with established markets, and exist in the midst of overstocked federal forests. “We’re the small log epicenter. The innovation is already here. Small logs are a specialized and difficult niche, one difficult to create in other areas. The key to success is fiber supply, and with three-fourths of non-reserved timberlands in national forests, let’s make the work in this part of the country a small log experiment.”

New Mexico attendees admired the Northwest small log processing infrastructure and invited industry insiders to explore opportunities in the Southwest as well. Their state is now devoid of processing options to deal with overstocked forests. As ideas were batted around for levelized supply, value-added, infrastructure investment and transportation solutions, Jim Doran re-emphasized a basic point. “Two-byfours are value-added,” he said of the practicality and economics of keeping area sawmills viable. “Wigwams and roundwood furniture just won’t do it.” To build on the successes of the 2004 conference, a second conference has been set for March 30 - Apr. 1, 2005, at the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Resort. Once again the focus will be on industry solutions, achieving challenging but attainable goals and taking industry efforts to the next level.

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