ASSOCIATION NEWS

Lumber Demand Still Strong
The Western Wood Products Association (WWPA) has
forecasted that the red-hot lumber markets of 2004 will cool slightly in 2005 and into 2006. Despite the decreases, lumber demand should remain at historic highs. WWPAreported preliminary totals show lumber demand in 2004 reached a record 61.8 billion board feet, an increase of 8.4 percent above the previous high of 57 billion board feet set the previous year. In 2005, lumber demand is forecast at 59.6 billion board feet, down 3.5 percent, while 2006 demand should slip to 58.9 billion board feet. Although lower, the 2005 and 2006 demand volumes would be the second and third highest in history. The growth in lumber consumption came in residential construction and repair and remodeling. WWPA anticipates housing starts and remodeling activity will decline over the next two years as interest rates begin to move higher. Since both markets together comprise nearly 75 percent of annual lumber consumption, the drop in housing and remodeling activity will be the chief reasons for the decreases in lumber demand this year and next.

FRA Awards Wigley
The Forest Resources Association awarded its 2005 National Outstanding Forestry Activist Award to Tim Wigley of PAC/West Communications in Wilsonville, Ore. He was recognized for his leading role in building support for the President’s Healthy Forests Initiative with the public and policymakers. Wigley has advocated forestry in political campaigns throughout the U.S., but his most valuable contribution, says FRA, is the development of Project Protect in 2003, a campaign to support the current Administration’s Healthy Forests Initiative and to turn it into effective national legislation.

Sustainable Forests EIS
The American Forest Resources Council (AFRC) reported that the Washington DNR’s policy for Sustainable Forests EIS was released April 15. The review period runs through May 1. Seven hearings will be held across the state and the AFRC will be responding to the EIS and coordinating industry input for those hearings. The AFRC expects to see more sophisticated policies and new definitions of old growth and sustainability.

Gary Doyle Passes
Longtime Associated Logging Contractors member and five-year ALC board member, Gary Doyle, passed away March 15 after battling leukemia. Gary joined the ALC in 1976 and became a board member in 2000. He was part of the industry for almost 50 years — purchasing his first log truck in the spring of 1957.

"Provider Pals" Celebration
On June 8, First Lady Laura Bush will serve as the Honorary Chair of a dinner event in Washington, D.C. celebrating seven years of growth for "Provider Pals," the award-winning program that brings natural resource people — loggers, miners, fishers, farmers, and ranchers — to urban and suburban middle-school kids (and teachers). The goal is to foster long-term connections between resource provider and classroom into the future. The FRA asks that when Bruce Vincent and the Provider Pals organization contact you, please consider lending your support, to raise the visibility of this important program to forge a new urban-rural interface and carry it into the future.

Ministers Oppose Illegal Logging
On March 18, the American Forest & Paper Association praised the commitment from the Environment and Development Ministers of the world's eight leading industrial nations to take measures to oppose illegal logging worldwide. "AF&PA is encouraged by the action taken by the G8 Ministers," said Ann Wrobleski, Vice President, International at AF&PA, "and we are committed to work with the G8 governments and any other interested parties to end all illegal logging in areas where timber harvesting is expressly prohibited. Illegal logging has so many negative consequences – environmentally, socially, and economically." A recent AF&PA study indicates that illegal logging steals billions of dollars per year from developing countries and artificially depresses world timber prices by between seven and sixteen percent, on average. Further, the study reports, illegally harvested logs can be priced as much as 50 percent cheaper than legal logs. Since the cost of the log is the largest part of the cost of any forest product, that illegal log gives the bad actor a distinct cost advantage over a law-abiding company.

Sponsors Needed for Sustainable Forestry Tour
The Idaho Forest Products Commission is sponsoring a Sustainable Forestry Tour for educators June 22-25 in North Central Idaho. The tour is being modeled after the popular Temperate Forest Foundation’s Intermountain Teacher’s Tour. The experience is designed to help educators teach their students about forest resources and the future choices they will need to make. Don’t miss this opportunity. Sponsorships are $300 (registration fee) plus teacher travel costs. You may sponsor a specific teacher from your local area, or one can be matched to you. To be a sponsor or to nominate an educator, contact tour coordinator Harold Osborne at (208) 875-1471 or IFPC at (208) 334-3292. You can also register online at www.idahoforests.org .

Intermountain Roundwood Association Launches Website
The Intermountain Roundwood Association (IRA) recently launched www.intermountainroundwood.org  — a comprehensive website to assist contractors, retailers, Co-ops, government specifiers and end-users locate the roundwood products they need and direct them to convenient places to buy them. The project was funded through a U.S. Forest Service grant and the Montana Community Development Corporation in support of the IRA's role in maintaining a viable roundwood industry. The website features a searchable product locator that allows viewers to examine 39 different roundwood product/service categories ranging from architectural and structural, fencing, log furniture, poles and stakes to wood preservatives and pressure-treating services.

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