Logging and Sawmilling Information for the Western United States

December  2000 - Volume 25 Number 1

Machinery Row

New APA Chair 
Michael Ainsworth, vice president of marketing and business development, Ainsworth Lumber Company, was recently appointed chair of the APA Marketing Advisory Committee.  He succeeds John LeFors, Willamette Industries, Inc., who recently became vice chairman of the Board of Trustees.  

Ponsee USA President 
Tommi Ruha has been named president of Ponsse USA, Inc.  He replaces President Juhapekka Mutanen.  Ruha was serving as Ponsee Oyj’s director of Information Systems and was a member of the management team.  And Eliisa Mutanen has been appointed vice president after having served as a bank director.  "These actions will enable us to strengthen Ponsse’s operations in the USA as well as offer our customers increasingly comprehensive wood harvesting solutions based on the cutto length harvesting methods in USA’s growing and consolidating markets," says CEO Tommi Lindbom.   

New Forestry Agent  
The Polk, Marion and Yamhill Counties of Oregon have their own forestry extension agent — Brian Withrow Robinson.  He’s taken over from Mike Reichenbach, who left the position a year ago.  A new emphasis on conservation, watershed health and forest management spurred the state legislature last year to beef up the extension service’s forestry program, providing funds for Withrow Robinson.  

Redwood Logging Firm Recognized  
After two years of attacks from environmentalists, a California timber company has received a much coveted "sustainability" certification for its forestry management practices.  The approval means that all forest products coming off Mendocino Redwood Co.’s 232,000 acres of Mendocino woodlands can bear a special logo, a significant marketing tool given the growing demand for wood from environmentally sustainable operations.  It is the largest redwood forest ever to receive certification from the Forest Stewardship Council, an independent forestry practices evaluation organization founded in 1993.  Bob Fisher, an owner of the timber company, says the certification proves "you can run a sustainably managed forest and a viable business.  This is a huge environmental achievement and one that we think can be duplicated.”   

Dempster Vice President of Business Development  
Rod Dempster, formerly vice president of Weyerhaeuser’s Western Oriented Strand Board (OSB) business, has accepted the position of vice president of business development for the company’s Wood Products businesses.  Dempster will focus on new business development opportunities in Wood Products, including Trus Joist engineered lumber and OSB supply chain optimization.  "We have a significant opportunity to integrate the knowledge between these businesses," says Tom Denig, Trus Joist president, "and Rod has the background and experience to help us identify business opportunities and make faster progress in developing them.”  

UW Appoints New Director  
Paul Boardman, who has represented Washington state and the nation’s forest products industry in Japan since the early 1990s, has been named director of the Center for International Trade in Forest Products at the University of Washington’s College of Forest Resources.  Boardman manages a staff and graduate students who conduct international market research of use to government, industry associations and businesses ranging from small, to large integrated forest products companies.  He also supervises the center’s publications and events.  For the past four years, Boardman worked in Japan for the American Forest & Paper Association.  He established and was director of the association’s Japan office, coordinated trade policy with the U.S. embassy, promoted the use of U.S.  wood products, and provided information about the Japanese market to the U.S. producers.   

O’Neill Pine Certified  
O’Neill Pine Co.  in Salem, Ore., has been certified as a SmartWood operation through the Forest Stewardship Council.  Wood coming from O’Neill Pine land can now bear the FSC band.  The program promotes conservation through certified forestry.  And certification is awarded only after an assessment of the company’s forestry management practices.  

Yraguen Recognized 
Jamie, Juan and Nicolas Yraguen of Basco Logging, Inc., recently completed all the necessary requirements to be recognized as Oregon Professional Loggers.  They were recognized as logging contractors who made a special effort to continue their professional education in the logging business.