In The News

Pending Sale of Tacoma Sawmill to Pony Lumber
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation signed a letter this fall regarding its intent to sell its Tacoma, Wash. sawmill, which produces kiln dried hemlock studs and other dimensional lumber, to Pony Lumber Company, LLC. The sale should close before the end of the year.
A portion of the funds to purchase the mill is slated to come from City of Tacoma programs available through the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Small Business Administration.
"LP is delighted to be able to sell the mill to an organization that will continue operations in its current location," said Chris Paulson, Lumber Business Manager for LP. "The sale of this mill will place it in the hands of a company focused on the lumber business, while allowing us to focus on growing our retained businesses."

HFI Legislation Ready to Be Signed
On Dec. 3, President Bush signed into law the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003. The new law will:
. • Revamp the Forest Service's conflict-ridden administrative appeals process, requiring would-be appellants to participate early in the development stages of a forest restoration project in order to reserve the right to file an appeal.
. • Create an paradigm shift in the way Courts consider legal challenges to hazardous fuels reduction projects, mandating that the Courts weigh the environmental consequences of management inaction when the specter of catastrophic wildfire looms. It would also require that federal judges reconsider any injunctions to projects every 60 days.
. • Expedite analysis and review requirements for priority wildfire mitigation projects, applying House-passed environmental analysis requirements to projects focused on protecting communities, and Senate-passed analysis procedures to projects focused on protecting watersheds and endangered wildlife.
. • Ensure that the public has a full and thorough opportunity to participate in the decision-making process. It embraces the House-passed, bipartisan Western Governor Association 10-Year Strategy's robust public input and participation requirements, ensuring that interested persons will have numerous opportunities to engage decision-makers during all phases of a project's development and implementation.

"This bipartisan legislation represents an epic victory for the health of our nation’s forests, both public and private," said AF&PA President and CEO W. Henson Moore. "Federal land managers will now have the tools they need to address the forest health crisis that has resulted in the destruction of millions of acres of public and private forestland, not to mention the loss of homes and other property resulting from catastrophic wildfire."

Brand America
A new campaign to promote products made by U.S. companies will be rolled out in 2004 — Brand America. Some of the individuals behind the drive include: H. Ross Perot; U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Detroit industrialist Max Fisher; and Michigan congressman John Dingell.
Brand America will take a kinder stance, and try to avoid the bashing done in the 1990s campaign, "Buy American." It will use advertising and educational reports to promote goods offered by publicly traded businesses with U.S. headquarters.
"Brand America is nonpartisan, free trade neutral and we won't be bashing foreign-owned companies and products," said Wayne Doran, a board member of Brand America.
Brand America comes at a time when the U.S. continues to lose jobs to overseas countries, namely in the manufacturing, technology and service industries.

AEM Forecasts Growth
The construction machinery manufacturing industry expects overall business to remain slow through the end of 2003, but then anticipates 2004 growth between 3 to 5 percent, according to an annual industry forecast of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM). Sales increases in 2004 are predicted for all major product groups covered in the AEM forecast, with the biggest gains in U.S. business.
Machinery manufacturers participating in the annual AEM "outlook" survey expect construction equipment business in the United States to close out 2003 with a 0.4 percent loss, followed by 2004 growth of 5.5 percent.
"We are certainly more optimistic than we have been in the past few years," stated Ron DeFeo, 2003 AEM Chairman and Chairman/CEO of Terex Corp., Westport, Conn. "We look for a general improvement in business conditions to positively impact the construction equipment manufacturing industry. For our business segment in particular, our customers’ fleets are aging and need replacement. Also, the federal government needs to pass highway spending legislation, and this should boost equipment sales."

Husqvarna Sponsors the 2003 Capitol Tree
For the fourth consecutive year, Husqvarna will serve as an official sponsor of the 2003 Capitol Holiday Tree. As in years past, Husqvarna will provide two professional grade chain saws for the tree cutting ceremony as well as safety apparel for the individuals who will perform the tree felling.
The 2003 Capitol Holiday Tree will decorate the front lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. during the holiday season. The 70-foot Engelmann spruce was cut in the Boise National Forest on November 3 and traveled to communities throughout Idaho before being carried cross-country via truck.
Western Lumber Output Up
Lumber production in the West totaled 1.49 billion board feet in September. This figure is up 4.8 percent from the September 2002 total, according to the Western Wood Products Association. Year-to-date production through September totaled 13.05 billion feet, which is 0.6 percent more than the same period last year.
The Oregon Department of Forestry reports that Oregon’s 2002 timber harvest was at its highest since 1977. The 2002 harvest increased to 3.91 billion board feet, a 14 percent increase over the record low in 2001 of 3.44 billion board feet.

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