Abstract

Public and privates forests are in critical need of 

restoration by thinning small-diameter timber. If 

economical and value-added uses for this thinned 

material can be found, forest restoration costs could 

be offset and catastrophic wildfires would be 

minimized. At the same time, forestry-dependent 

rural communities—faced with diminishing timber 

supplies, loss of jobs, high unemployment, and 

declining community vitality—are looking for new 

ways to make a living from nearby forests. From 

information gathered in onsite interviews, this 

report describes how several businesses and 

community organizations are contributing to the 

health of the forest and their community by 

successfully making use of small-diameter and 

underutilized material. 

Keywords: small-diameter timber, forest 

restoration, roundwood, small business 

May 2004 

Livingston, Jean. 2004. Small-Diameter Success Stories. Madison, WI: 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products 

Laboratory. 33 p. 

A limited number of free copies of this publication are available to the 

public from the Forest Products Laboratory, One Gifford Pinchot 

Drive, Madison, WI 53726–2398. This publication is also available 

online at www.fpl.fs.fed.us. Laboratory publications are sent to hundreds of libraries in the United States and elsewhere. 

The use of trade or firm names in this publication is for reader 

information and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department 

of Agriculture of any product or service. 

The Forest Products Laboratory is maintained in cooperation with the 

University of Wisconsin. 

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, 

national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual 

orientation, or marital or familial status. (Not all prohibited bases apply 

to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative 

means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, 

audiotape, etc.) should contact the USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 

720–2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, 

write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten 

Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250–

9410, or call (202) 720–5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal 

opportunity provider and employer. 

Acknowledgements

I extend my deep appreciation and thanks to all the 

individuals, businesses, and communities who provided me with a personal interview and tour of their 

organization. Each place I traveled, everyone was 

extremely generous in offering their time, cooperation, honesty, hospitality, and friendship. 

Contents Page

Foreword ............................................................. iii 

Introduction ...........................................................v 

Bronson Log Homes, Enterprise, Oregon .............1 

Catron County Citizen’s Group, 

 Catron County, New Mexico ............................3 

Elkhorn Log and Rustic Furniture, 

 Darby, Montana.................................................7 

Forest Concepts, L.L. C., 

 Federal Way, Washington .................................9 

Plummer Forest Products, Plummer, Idaho.........13 

Porterbilt Post & Pole, Hamilton, Montana ........17 

Potlatch Corporation, Cook, Minnesota..............21 

SBS Wood Shavings, Glencoe, New Mexico .....23 

Timber Products Company (softwood veneer), 

 Yreka, California.............................................25 

Wallowa Resources, Enterprise, Oregon.............27 

Watershed Research & Training Center and 

 Jefferson State Forest Products, 

 Hayfork, California .........................................29 
SSmmaallll--DDiiaammeetteerr SSuucccceessss SSttoorriieess

Jean Livingston 

USDA Forest Service 

S&PF Technology Marketing Unit 

Forest Products Laboratory 

One Gifford Pinchot Drive 

Madison, WI 53726–2398 

iii

Foreword

he USDA Forest Service, Forest Products 

Laboratory (FPL), has been researching new 

technologies for using small-diameter and underutilized trees since 1992. That was when several National Forest Supervisors approached FPL asking 

for help with the small-diameter trees that were increasingly dominating the forested landscapes and 

causing ecological problems, particularly increased 

risk from catastrophic wildfires and insect infestation. Over the years, I have visited many sites dominated by overstocked stands of small-diameter 

trees. At each site, the predominant concern was 

economics—how to achieve some economic value 

from these small-diameter trees so that the costs of 

removing them could be partially offset. The primary driver for removing these trees was always 

reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires and creating more resilient forest stands. 

Over the past 10 years, I have seen tremendous progress in using these small trees. However, I measure 

this progress not by current ecological standards but 

by the fact that a new industry infrastructure must 

be created to handle the tremendous volume of material that needs to be thinned. Although we have a 

long way to go to achieve the desired forest conditions, the ingenuity, commitment, enthusiasm, and 

dedication of community and industry leaders that I 

have met along the way are cause for my hope that 

we can solve this problem of “too many small 

trees.” Barriers still need to be overcome, but by 

working together with all interested groups, outlining what we want our forests to look like in the future, and relying on dedicated people to resolve 

differences and overcome barriers, we can improve 

our national forests and help improve the economic 

vitality of rural, forest-based communities. 

The success stories described here are only a few 

examples of how forest-based communities and 

industries are responding to our current forest 

crisis. With more than 73 million acres of national 

forests and millions more in public and private 

forestlands that need some form of thinning to improve their resiliency, these success stories need to 

be replicated in forest communities throughout the 

nation—from the Pacific Northwest and Southwest, 

to the Southeast, the Midwest, and the Northeast. I 

wish we could have included all the success stories 

of how communities and forest industries are using 

small-diameter trees, but time and space forced us 

to choose representative examples. We focused on a 

variety of uses, including high-volume products, 

such as oriented strandboard; high-value products, 

such as veneer and furniture; and innovative products, such as ELWd® (large logs made from smalldiameter logs and forest residuals). My apologies 

for the numerous examples not included. However, 

success stories like these exist in many of the communities where you live and work. I encourage you 

to seek them out. 

The second major objective of this compendium is 

to capture the spirit and essence of the men and 

women who are leading the charge. As you read 

these stories, I know that you will marvel at their 

commitment, dedication, and passion. Their stories 

have one similar theme, namely determination—

determination to find a solution, determination to 

help their communities, determination to improve 

the health of our forests, and determination to succeed. I am a better person for knowing these people, 

and I believe our forests will be better for their

continued efforts. 

T

Susan L. LeVan–Green 

Program Manager 

S&PF Technology Marketing Unit 

Forest Products Laboratory 

v

Introduction

his report tells stories of successful smalldiameter businesses or community organizations in the United States. To understand the importance, value, and purpose of their efforts, the overriding story must also be told—the story of how our 

country is striving to improve the health of our forests and, at the same time, helping the economy of 

rural communities that are dependent on natural 

resources for their livelihood. 

In the West, more than 73 million acres of national 

forests and millions more acres of public and private forests are in critical need of restoration. Forests are declining in health because of major 

changes over the years in forest structure and composition. This trend has a negative impact on the 

growth of native trees and plants, wildlife habitat, 

and watersheds. Unhealthy forests present a high 

risk for catastrophic fires and epidemic insect infestation and disease. 

As a result of past management practices and several years of fire suppression, forests are dense, 

have few large-diameter trees, and have an abundance of small, tightly spaced trees and underbrush. 

This small-diameter and underutilized material has 

been left in the forest because either it is not economical to remove or local capacity to process such 

material rarely exists. This dense material creates a 

ladder-type fuel that can lead to high-intensity fires, 

which spread quickly. These types of fires can 

destroy entire stands of trees and cause major 

alterations to forested landscapes and watersheds. 

Restoration of these overstocked stands, through 

mechanical thinning or prescribed burning, will remove most of the small-diameter material, thus 

helping the forest to recover its natural structure and 

ecological functions. However, forest thinning is 

extremely expensive and costs much more than the 

value of the thinned material 

If new, economical, and value-added uses for this 

thinned material can be found, forest restoration 

costs could be offset and catastrophic wildfires 

would be minimized. Restoration thinning also 

offers other benefits: 

T
vi 

 Improved stand species and quality mix 

 Reduced risk from insects and disease 

 Increased forest resiliency 

 Healthier wildlife habitat 

 Protected and improved watersheds 

 Augmented supply of wood and fiber to 

 our nation 

The other half of the story is the forest-dependent 

rural communities that are faced with diminishing 

timber supplies, loss of jobs, high unemployment, 

and declining community vitality. 

Many forest-based communities are looking for 

new ways to make a living from nearby forests. 

Several organizations across the country have 

programs that are exploring and evaluating new 

technologies that could improve the use of smalldiameter and underutilized material. 

Forestry agencies and many local, forest-dependent 

communities are partnering—working side by 

side—to find new ways of collaborative forest 

management, adapting to the opportunities and constraints offered by the ecosystem, and developing 

new forest products technologies. 

Restoration of our forests will persist as long as we 

continue working together for the ecological health 

of our forests and the economic health of forestbased rural communities. This report describes how 

some small-diameter businesses and community 

organizations are contributing to the health of the 

forest and the economy of their community by successfully making use of small-diameter and underutilized material. 

Oregon California Washington Idaho Montana 

14,603

5,419

4,288

1,926 1,770

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000 

12000 

14000 

16000 

Total jobs lost

Total Jobs Lost Due to Sawmill Closures 1989-2000 
Bronson Log Homes 

s you drive by, it looks like a typical log home 

business, remarkably similar to those you see 

by the roadside in Montana. Actually, Bronson 

Log Homes is a typical 

custom log homebuilder, 

but it offers much more 

than log homes to its 

customers and its 

community. 

Bronson Log Homes is 

located just outside Enterprise, a rural forestdependent community in 

the northeastern corner of Oregon in Wallowa 

County. Here, the landscape includes deep canyons, 

huge gorges, plateaus, river valleys, and numerous 

lakes, forests, and meadows. The area is often 

fondly called the Switzerland of America. 

Owners Bill and Terri Bronson (husband and wife) 

and Dean Himes migrated to Oregon from Montana, where they had worked for a log homebuilder 

northeast of Missoula. Bill’s employer asked him to 

temporarily relocate in Oregon to manage a branch 

of its Montana log home business. In 1992, the 

Bronsons made the decision to stay in Oregon and 

opened their business, Bronson Log Homes. Coowner Dean Himes joined them shortly thereafter. 

Combined, these owners have more than 40 years 

of experience in handcrafted log home construction, 

which has earned them a reputation as masters in 

the handcrafted log home industry. Their advertising brochure states “Quality custom hand-crafted 

construction for a lifetime of comfort and 

satisfaction.”

In about 1995, Bronson Log Homes began 

offering hand-crafted log furniture and accessories 

produced from small-diameter timber that is recovered from local forests. So that they never have uniform pieces like those ordered from a mill, Bronson 

hand picks their wood from the forests, dries it to 

6% moisture content, and peels it by hand. Each 

finished piece of furniture has its own charm and 

identity. 

Himes pointed out “We 

started working with smalldiameter material because 

people wanted railings for 

their log homes. Our customers would have to order 

railings from other companies so we decided to make 

them; next, we made beds.” 

Terri Bronson added, “The 

products were all built on 

the same principal, and we 

just expanded from there.” 

Bronson tries to get its small-diameter supply from 

nearby national forests. However, this is not always 

possible. They also get some of their supply from 

Montana, usually lodgepole pine, but they have 

used white fir and tamarack.

In 2001, Bronson Log Homes joined in a venture 

with the Forest Service that prominently exhibited 

their business and the Wallowa Community at the 

2002 Winter Olympics in Utah. 

In an effort to assist rural communities and forest 

restorations throughout the West, the USDA Forest 

Service, Technology Marketing Unit (TMU) located at the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, 

Wisconsin, has been exploring the use of smalldiameter softwood and hardwood timber to build 

roundwood structures. 

The TMU worked with national forests and rural 

communities to build two small-diameter, roundwood information kiosks for the 2002 Winter 

Olympics in Salt Lake City. Each kiosk is approximately 25 ft in diameter; they are enclosed and 

heated.

One of these kiosks was made from donated materials and processing by Bronson Log Homes. This

kiosk is located inside the 2002 Soldier Hollow 

A
2

venue (near Heber), where the biathlon and crosscountry skiing events took place. 

The Bronsons and Dean Himes express how they 

feel about their business this way: “Working in a 

place that’s only accessible by two scenic mountain 

roads, and where the elk still outnumber the humans 

several to one, has made us feel downright sorry for 

those trapped in ‘civilization.’ And so we decided 

to capture a bit of the Wallowa County lifestyle in 

our furniture and offer it to you.” 

The owners of Bronson Log Homes have certainly 

accomplished this and much more. 

Contact information: 

Bronson Log Homes 

P.O. Box 176 

Enterprise, OR 97828 

(888) 290-0497 or 426-6072 (local) 

www.bronsonloghomes.com
3

Catron County Citizens Group 

t first you may wonder if this is just a tale 

from the Old Western Frontier about the range 

and cattle wars of the 

1800s. However, you will 

soon discover that it is a 

present-day story about 

the residents of Catron 

County, New Mexico. In 

this story, however, there 

is no happily ever after, at 

least not yet. 

Only about 2,500 people 

live in the remote and isolated Catron County, 

which covers 7,000 square miles. The Federal government controls about 75% of this land, including 

a large part of the Gila National Forest. Economically, Catron County is very poor, with little industry except forestry and ranching. For three 

generations, ranchers and loggers in this county 

have depended on public lands to make a living. 

In the 1990s, as a result of environmental pressures 

to restrict logging and grazing and policy changes 

from Federal land management agencies, the way of 

life for Catron County citizens changed dramatically. A seemingly insurmountable conflict was 

looming among ranchers, loggers, environmental 

groups, county government employees, and the 

Forest Service. 

On the Gila National Forest, timber cut permitting 

by the Forest Service went from 30 million board 

feet per year in 1993, to 1 million in 1995, to literally none in 1998, because of the Mexican spotted 

owl being put on the endangered species list. At the 

same time, the Forest Service (brought on by pressure from environmentalists) began to strictly enforce the National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) by closely checking ranchers’ grazing allotments, which ultimately resulted in reducing the 

number of cattle that could graze on these lands. In 

addition, decreasing beef prices, drought, and competition from elk for forage heightened the problems for ranchers and loggers. In 1993, the only 

lumber mill in the county (Reserve, New Mexico) 

closed, putting 30 people out of work. 

In 1995, Catron County’s 

unemployment was 10.8%. 

Loggers and ranchers were 

extremely frustrated and 

becoming increasingly 

angry with the Federal government and environmentalists. Fed up with Federal 

regulations, the county government passed several 

spiteful ordinances, such as 

writing its own land use 

plan for the Gila National Forest, calling for the 

arrest of any Federal official who imposed the will 

of the Federal government on them, requiring every 

household to have a “firearm of their choice,” and 

demanding that environmentalists register prior to 

doing any assessment within Catron County. 

On the other hand, environmentalists felt that these 

public lands had been dominated too long by the 

ranching and logging industries, who did not have 

ecological preservation as their priority. In the middle of it all was the Forest Service, dealing with 

lawsuits from county loggers, ranchers, and environmentalists. Feeling their lives virtually being 

threatened, Forest Service employees hired a counselor to help them and their families deal with the 

situation and their emotions. 

A
4

It wasn’t only Forest Service employees who were 

suffering. There were attempted suicides by ranchers in the county. One environmentalist from the 

county noted that “a dangerous kind of undercurrent 

could erupt any time...I went to a local meeting 

where there were threats of using bullets and 

shooting.” 

Dr. Mark, the only physician in Catron County, began seeing more patients with anxiety, depression, 

drug and alcohol problems, spousal abuse, and family violence. In 1995, out of desperation for the 

residents of Catron County, Dr. Mark sought outside help through the New Mexico Center for 

Dispute Resolution (NMCDR). 

As a result of the help from the NMCDR, the 

Catron County Citizens Group (CCCG) was born. 

The CCCG is a group of 15 to 20 Catron County 

citizens, ranging from ranchers to Forest Service 

employees, environmentalists, local county officials, county extension agent, clergymen, and 

community leaders. They meet monthly with a mission “to come together to openly and honestly discuss and deal with the diverse situations we face, 

finding common ground from our different points 

of view to ensure an economically, socially, and 

environmentally sound future for us all.” 

It sounds easy and simple, but it wasn’t. The CCCG 

struggled with the minutest of details. For the entire 

first 6 months of organizing, group members educated each other on their different points of view. 

Eventually, the group decided to work on some actual projects within the county; some went 

smoothly, some did not. Forward movement was 

painstakingly slow, but there was progress. 

Setbacks, such as the incident at Eager in 1996 and 

the grazing lawsuit in 1997, added tension to the 

controversial situation. The Eager incident involved 

a CCCG member asking a Forest Service employee 

to leave a strategy meeting that involved pursuing 

litigation against the Forest Service for restricting 

grazing permits. Because of this incident, feelings 

of distrust and skepticism again flared up. In 1997, 

an environmental group unexpectedly filed a grazing lawsuit that would compel the Forest Service to 

remove cattle from 70 allotments in Catron County. 

Ranchers were especially frustrated with the lack of 

notice.

Sometimes no amount of negotiation was going to 

change the situation. When they reached such a 

point, the CCCG turned its attention to areas where 

it could make a difference. 

One of those attention-turning times was when 

CCCG Executive Director Bob Moore obtained a 

rural economic development grant from the Forest 

Service to conduct a feasibility study on the possibility of a small-diameter mill in the county. Remember the only lumber mill in the county that had 

closed in 1993? Well, the Catron County commissioners purchased that sawmill and land in hopes of 

sawing large-diameter logs, as the old mill had. 

However, Moore says that with direction, over time, 

and with input from specialists like Rusty Dramm 

of the Technology Marketing Unit (TMU) located 

at the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, the CCCG reopened the mill with plans to 

supply the mill using low-value, small-diameter 

ponderosa pine material from the Gila National 

Forest restoration and fuels reduction projects. 

As part of the rural economic development grant, 

the TMU contributed technical assistance and marketing assistance to the CCCG, enabling them to 

determine the best use for a closed sawmill. Based 

on TMU’s assistance, a pro forma business statement was prepared for the Catron County sawmill 

site. Bob Moore kindly remarked that “The assistance the TMU gives to our effort is integral to the 

development of our small-diameter forest products 

industry for Catron County. I don’t know what we 

would do without their expert advice and connections to specialists throughout the nation.” 

In 1998, the NMCDR reported that the CCCG “had 

charted a positive course for the immediate future. 

The original objectives in Catron County were to 

reduce stress, create dialogue, and educate. The 

emphasis now clearly is on economic development. 

Signs of increasing openness are who people sit 

next to during the potluck meals before meetings, 

telling jokes and teasing each other, testimonials 

about how surprising it was that relationships 

evolved as they did.” 

On the current status of Catron County, Bob Moore 

notes, “By focusing on projects that achieve common goals, we’ve been able to work together to get 

past our differences. Unfortunately, tolerance of 
5

different points of view is a required virtue that is 

sometimes lacking. However, the payoff is great 

when you realize gains in forest and range health 

and jobs for the community.” 

The CCCG has definitely made progress since that 

first meeting with the NMCDR in 1995. County 

residents are slowly healing, both economically and 

emotionally. In 2004, CCCG is working on several 

projects for the benefit of all citizens in Catron 

County. 

Contact information: 

Catron County Citizens Group 

Executive Director Bob Moore 

bmoore@gilanet.com

CCCG Projects 

Newspaper—Made possible in part by grants from government sources, CCCG has been publishing 

the monthly “Catron County Citizen” newspaper since 1999. It is sent to every postal patron in Catron 

County and to more than 200 interested individuals and organizations outside the county. Each issue 

repeats the mission of CCCG and highlights the phrase “Catron County Citizen is your voice for an 

economically, socially, and environmentally sound future” to remind all citizens of the county that this is 

their newspaper. The newspaper is a good communication tool. It is a typical local newspaper, often 

highlighting a special individual who has given much to the community. It is also a way of informing 

residents of the status of special projects, upcoming meetings, and job opportunities. 

Greenhouse—CCCG is providing assistance and opportunities to youth in the area by organizing and 

coordinating a small-diameter roundwood greenhouse to be built close to the middle and high schools 

and to be used as an agricultural learning center. This project demonstrates use of small-diameter 

roundwood as a structural building material, helps expand markets for a local sawmill, and uses material removed from forest fuel reduction activities.

Project Coordinator Bob Moore recently reported on the current status of the greenhouse project: 

The school is charged with obtaining the appropriate construction permits based on a smaller 

version (30 by 36 feet) of the original blueprint design (30 by 60 feet). The school is then going 

to seek a contractor to assist with completing the foundation work. The school is also charged 

with fashioning the metal straps in their metal shop to be used in truss construction. Funds already in place will be used to compensate the contractor and pay for construction materials. 

The CCCG is charged with obtaining logs that will be peeled by equipment currently being installed and coordinating the construction of the walls and trusses as modular units. These units 

will be built on-the-ground, horizontally at the mill site. Local talent will be hired to oversee the 

construction of the modular units, assisted by youth employed through our local Youth Conservation Corps Program this summer (2004). The cost of acquiring and peeling the logs and hiring local talent will be paid by funds in place. 

Once the walls and trusses are constructed as modular units (by end of summer 2004), a contract will be let to transport and lift units into place on-site at the school. Installation of roof, windows, doors, etc., will be part of the contract. We believe that putting out this type of work for 

contract will be easier for contractors to bid on (and thus possibly attract additional bidders) 

than the original bid that included the construction of technically complicated trusses and fitting 

of logs. 

The CCCG recently took on the responsibility of finding additional funds, as we are still 

short of sufficient funds to complete all the work. We currently have around $47,000 in construction funds for a 1,080-square-foot structure, which are considerably less than standard 

construction square-foot costs. We continue to focus on instilling good communication and 

active participation. 
6

CCCG Projects (continued) 

Locally Based Forest Products Industry—In 2001, the CCCG entered into a 5-year agreement with 

the county to lease a former 22-acre sawmill property outside Reserve, New Mexico. In lieu of rental 

payment, CCCG contributes an average of $10,000 per year of in-kind service and materials for improvement of rental property, a total of $50,000 during the term of the lease. Maintaining a log-holding 

yard will help local logging and wood milling operators with the selling and purchasing of logs, which 

improves infrastructure and increases job opportunities.

In the last quarter of 2001, the CCCG started purchasing from a local logger fire-killed Douglas-fir logs 

from the Corner Mountain Salvage sale and storing them at the mill site for further processing. As of 

April 2002, about 435,000 board feet had been purchased and sorted for use by local operators. Soon,

CCCG expects to purchase small-diameter ponderosa pine removed from forest restoration projects on 

the Gila National Forest. 

CCCG’s next step is to purchase used milling equipment and renovate some established buildings on 

this leased sawmill property. The revitalized mill will not produce lumber, as the old mill did, but will be 

designed to manufacture value-added products such as tongue and groove paneling. CCCG firmly believes “that every resident of the county will benefit from the investments the Citizens Group is making 

to the publicly owned mill site.” 
7

Elkhorn Log and Rustic Furniture 

ob Longwood, owner of Elkhorn Log & 

Rustic Furniture, has a special talent of taking 

the most gnarly-looking piece of waste wood and 

handcrafting it into a high-quality, elegant piece of 

furniture. The address of Elkhorn Log & Rustic 

Furniture is Darby, located in the Bitterroot Valley 

just south of Hamilton, Montana. This lush valley 

lies between the Bitterroot 

and the Sapphire mountain 

ranges.

Rob has been in the log furniture business in the Bitterroot Valley for almost 8 

years. In 2001, he moved to 

a new location, where he 

bought the land and a 

4,000-square-foot building. 

Rob said, “At the time, I 

really wasn’t ready for the move but my lease was 

up and I needed more space. Now I’m glad it happened.” Rob has lots of remodeling to do, but he 

has a good start on the project. His plans include 

1,100 square feet dedicated to a customer showroom. 

Rob is originally from the Northwest, primarily 

Washington State. As a child, he visited family in 

Montana; he liked the area and planned to return 

some day. His past is more than interesting—it includes surviving a winter in a Cheyenne tepee, 

spending many months raising wolves and exploring Washington State’s Blue Mountains as a mountain man, working as a wilderness guide, and 

building a muzzle-loading rifle that he sports at the 

Mountain Man Rendezvous held each year in the 

Rocky Mountains. He says these wilderness experiences inspired him to create his rustic log furniture 

business.

He has been in the woodworking business for 

30 years and learned his craftsmanship from a German master cabinetmaker. When Rob first began 

his business, he would take on just about any job to 

survive. He built entire homes, was a cabinetmaker 

for 1-1/2 years, and worked for a furniture company 

for 6 months just to learn the retailing end of the 

furniture business. He has always used the money 

from his extra jobs to buy additional furnituremaking equipment. 

When he worked as a building contractor for log 

and conventional homes, Rob felt little satisfaction. 

He explains that people seem so unappreciative of 

the quality and craftsmanship of an entire house 

built of wood compared with their reaction of extreme pleasure in receiving 

one truly well-crafted piece 

of furniture, such as a table 

or chair. Rob says that he 

would “much rather be 

known and remembered as 

a starving artist than a 

starving carpenter.”

Rob gets most of his supply 

of wood from following a 

horse logger. Anything the 

logger doesn’t take is up for grabs for Rob. Most of 

what he collects is small-diameter lodgepole pine. 

Although this wood supply is at no cost to Rob, he 

will often build the logger a piece of furniture in 

appreciation.

Rob also builds furniture for landowners in order to 

be able to go in and clean up after their land has 

been logged. For example, in return for the privilege of hauling away 15 big truckloads of wood 

material, Rob built a table and two benches for the 

landowner. Rob says “It works out good for everyone. The material is much more than the landowner 

could use as firewood, the landowner gets his land 

cleaned up, and I get a free supply of wood.” 

Another place Rob acquires wood is from log home 

companies, where he can buy a bundle (4 feet in 

diameter by 16 feet long) of their waste slabwood 

for about $30. Half that bundle is made into furniture; the rest is waste, which is burned for heat. 

Rob has the details all laid out for how his purchased shop will operate. As we walk through the 

shop, Rob explains the production flow and the assembly space needed to make the furniture. Most 

walls are lined with log racks where wood pieces 

are shelved while they continue to air dry and wait 

for further production. He has already installed 

R
8

most of the insulation and drywall; he has also rewired the building so that each machine is on a 

separate circuit. 

An outdoor burner that burns wood chips and scrap 

wood provides his heat source; heat is blown into 

the building through the ductwork. Eventually, Rob 

explained, they will have too many chips to burn in 

one day so he plans to build a shed outside to stock 

the chips until needed.

His inventory of wood is stacked outside to air dry; 

plans are to build sheds to cover the stacks of wood. 

Rob also envisions a small park-like display outside 

that includes a gazebo, picnic table, and other items 

for sale that might catch a customer’s eye as they 

drive by. 

Rob has approximately 38 furniture-making machines. He is a master at modifying the machinery 

to cut something it shouldn’t or saw a little differently than it was built to do or make several cuts 

when it is supposed to make only one. 

For example, Rob took an antique piece of machinery that had been used to build Hudson car parts 

and modified it to cut railing spindles as large as 

6 inches or as small as 1⁄4 inch in diameter. He 

added a square wooden box that works in conjunction with a power saw. With this modified machine, 

diameter changes on the spindles are simple and 

cost nothing. In a machine built to make these kinds 

of cuts, it would cost $1,100 each time diameter 

heads are changed. Rob admits that he “has a good 

mechanical aptitude but not an engineering degree. 

I want a finished look that appears to be totally 

hand finished. I have to modify most of the machinery to do what I want it to do.” 

He offers customers a process called “skip peeling,” 

where you peel the log but keep some of the bark 

on. Log homebuilders do a lot of skip peeling. Rob 

says, “The bad thing about skip peeling is that no 

matter how well you finish it, the bark will continue 

to peel off.”

Rob’s high-end products have dovetailed drawers; 

quality hardware and a full bottom of solid wood 

are used in all his furniture pieces. After working 

for a furniture company, he believes that, in general, middle-of-the-road furniture made in the 

United States is poorly manufactured. Rob says, 

“I’d rather go broke making quality furniture than 

make a million dollars from selling poorly made 

pieces.”

Not all of Rob’s work is for profit. One example of 

his generosity is when he donated to handicapped 

children several wooden toys that he had built entirely from waste wood. Each toy actually worked 

(for example, the crank on the crane, the controls on 

the outrigger). The steamroller toy was large 

enough for a child to sit inside the control booth. He 

made each toy look as authentic as possible; even 

the tires were made of wood.

Rob markets his furniture all over the United States, 

and although most of his customers are local, they 

aren’t necessarily local people. Rob explains that 

many of his customers come to the Bitterroot Valley to build their second or third homes and word 

gets around about his furniture. One of his marketing tools is to provide to local restaurants free 

placemats that advertise his business. He is trying to 

branch out by producing a catalog and price list on 

his computer and hopes to soon have a website for 

ordering.

Rob admits that he has done little marketing of the 

fact that his business is based on using forest thinning material, basically waste wood. However, he is 

proud that small-wood business owners can make a 

big difference in cleaning up the forest. He especially enjoys finding the most unusual, gnarly 

pieces of wood. He says, “No one wants those 

weird pieces—it isn’t even good for firewood because you can’t stack it.” 

Rob’s business is continually expanding. He is developing new ideas for products all the time, and he 

is seeing a big increase in the market for valueadded products. 

Rob says, “I like to learn something new each 

day—I figure if I haven’t learned something new 

that day, the day was wasted.” There is no doubt 

that with Rob’s ingenuity, he will be around for a 

long time, learning and teaching his customers 

something new every day. 

Contact information: 

Elkhorn Log & Rustic Furniture 

3615 Hwy 93 South 

Darby, MT 

406-821-1006 
9

Forest Concepts, L.L.C. 

im Dooley, President and CEO of Forest 

Concepts, LLC., says “At times we behave like 

a large corporation, and the rest of the time we operate like three guys with a 

chainsaw.”

Forest Concepts “develops, 

manufactures, and markets 

innovative products from 

small-diameter wood for 

habitat enhancement, erosion 

control, and water restoration.” Their habitat products 

are used in rivers, streams, 

wetlands, ponds, lakes, and 

parks. The company also 

provides natural resource services that support sustainable rural communities. Headquartered in Federal Way, Washington, Forest Concepts was formed 

in 1998 by mostly former Weyerhaeuser employees 

who were interested in creating truly innovative 

forest products. Their business is built around 

“completing the watershed cycle.” 

More than $2 billion is spent each year in North 

America on habitat enhancement and watershed 

restoration. Of that amount, about $300 million 

goes for materials that could be made from smalldiameter timber. Dooley explains that an “underappreciated outlet for small-diameter roundwood is 

in watershed restoration and environmental and 

habitat enhancement programs. Products manufactured from forest thinnings and subsequently placed 

back in the watershed complete the watershed cycle 

and at the same time provide income for forest 

landowners, woods workers in rural communities, 

and environmental restoration contractors.” 

In the Pacific Northwest, loss of large woody material in streams and rivers has been identified as a 

leading cause of the steady decline in the salmon 

population. Salmon, along with bull trout and steelhead fish, need woody structure in their habitat to 

survive. The woody material provides cover and 

shelter and helps in gravel sorting for spawning 

beds. Natural restoration would take decades to improve the salmon population. An alternative is to 

help nature along by bringing in large woody material and placing it back 

into streams until nature 

can catch up and other 

solutions can be found. 

However, it is difficult to 

purchase the largediameter logs that are 

needed, and transporting 

and installing the logs are 

expensive.

Dooley left Weyerhaeuser 

in 1995 and shortly after 

began working to make salmon restoration more 

practical. At the time, he said, the endangered listing on Puget Sound salmon had just come out, and 

Federal and State funds for restoration were targeted for citizen volunteers and programs like Jobs 

in the Woods, Americorps, paid conservation 

crews, and other conservation-type programs. However, much of these funds were being spent on logistic costs and equipment. Big logs, 24 to 30 

inches in diameter, were prohibitively expensive, or 

the logs were not available. If such a log could even 

be obtained in King County (Washington), the average cost of placing each log in a creek was $1,000 

because of the need to rent a crane, helicopter, or 

other large equipment to place the log. 

At the time, it was extremely difficult to do salmon 

habitat restoration in the Puget Sound Basin, Dooley explained, and yet “there was this big citizen 

demand that people be involved in doing it.” Simultaneously, Dooley had been working on making it 

more practical to do forest operations and early 

commercial thinning. “So, we had this problem of 

how to generate revenue and find uses for smalldiameter material that needed to be thinned from 

forest plantations. There was no pulp market, and 

thinned forest material was either being left in the 

woods or it was burned. There was no revenue to 

offset the cost of forest management. The Forest 

J
10

Service and Bureau of Land Management faced 

similar forest health issues in the mid-1990s.” 

In 1996, Dooley began 

working with University 

of Washington researchers, who said that more 

wood and largediameter wood were 

needed to increase the 

salmon population. But 

Dooley and others felt 

that by combining disciplined engineering and 

fisheries biology technology, they could use 

small-diameter thinning 

material from the forest 

and create a product that 

not only was aesthetically pleasing but would 

also facilitate salmon 

habitat restoration.

The first product 

idea, said Dooley,

was to make big logs 

out of small logs. “It 

took about a year to get 

the idea worked out

into what we call 

ELWd® [pronounced 

el-wood]. ELWd® logs

are made from smalldiameter logs, usually 

5- to 6-inches top 

diameter, and forest residuals. ELWd® structures are held together 

by round mortise and tenon joints. Spars (a type of 

dowel connection) join opposite poles into an interlocking all-wood structure. No bolts, nails, or other 

fasteners are needed. ELWd® structures can be built 

almost anywhere using simple tooling, assembled 

by untrained volunteers, and the structures decay 

naturally in the environment.” 

Research at the University of Washington compared 

ELWd® structures to large, solid-wood logs. Results 

showed that ELWd® structures were at least as good 

as solid-wood logs, and it appeared that they could 

provide a good bridging solution for salmon 

restoration.

So, in 1998, Dooley and 

others got together to decide 

“if they had a possible business here,” and their advisors concluded this was 

definitely a good business 

opportunity. Forest Concepts was born, and ELWd®

structures for stream restoration were their first

products.

With the success of ELWd®

structures, Forest Concepts 

expanded into other habitat 

structures, such as engineered log jams, floating 

rafts for turtles, nurse logs 

(good foundation for tree 

seedling establishment), and 

other animal living quarters. 

The design of ELWd® products as kits provides easy 

installation with minimal 

impact on the environment. 

ELWd® logs are lightweight 

for transportation, tools are 

usually not required to assemble the ELWd® structures, and assembly is easy 

for volunteer workers and 

conservation crews.

Steve Thorson, Director of 

Business Development, explained that Forest Concepts 

is organized around outsourcing everything and has 

only a few employees. However, their outsource 

partners provide new jobs and economic growth in 

forest-dependent and rural communities. Their office and shop area at Federal Way is only about 

2,000 square feet, “and yet we have a virtual production plant that is several acres in size,” explained Thorson. “Our customers license the 

technology from us and then they use their forest 

resources, their people, and their funds to manufacture and sell the products. They pay as they use our 

technologies and trademarks.” 
11

When their reputation 

with the ELWd® concept 

reached a national level, 

Forest Concepts moved 

into other areas where 

there was a need for a 

wood alternative. They 

developed FlowCheck®

structures, or manufactured log erosion barriers, using small-diameter 

logs that are ideally 

suited for use in fire rehabilitation areas. FlowCheck® structures can be 

easily manufactured 

year-round and can be 

stockpiled, making them 

quickly available for use 

prior to heavy rainfall. 

In cooperation with the 

Forest Service Rocky 

Mountain Research 

Station in Moscow, 

Idaho, Forest Concepts 

is researching and testing WoodStrawTM, an 

erosion control product. 

Based on preliminary 

results, they are confident that a wood-based 

straw material can be as 

good as or better than 

agricultural straw mulch. 

Agricultural straw is currently widely used for erosion control, but it does have limitations (such as 

agricultural straw can be a source for noxious 

weeds in forested watershed, dust from the straw 

can be a respiratory irritant to workers, and it decomposes too quickly). 

In addition to the University of Washington and the 

Rocky Mountain Research Station, the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), in 

Madison, Wisconsin, has been a good resource for 

them, Dooley mentioned. One example he gave was 

their development of a wildlife-friendly fence. At 

issue was the question of treating the wood with a 

solution that would make the fence fire resistant. 

With past research in this area, FPL was able to 

help Forest Concepts with 

their questions. He said that 

“employees at FPL have 

the ability to take the current knowledge base that 

has accumulated for 90 

years at their laboratory 

and apply it to a context of 

our technical needs.” When 

Forest Concepts was initially working on their connector system for ELWd®

structures, “we watched 

FPL’s wood connector research closely because 

there’s a lot to learn from 

them.” Another area that 

has been most helpful to 

them is the log sort information published and made 

available by FPL. “We very 

much appreciate the professional peer support at 

FPL.”

Forest Concepts is looking 

to expand their product 

base into the Midwest and 

Mid-Atlantic areas. Ottawa 

National Forest (Michigan/Wisconsin) was their 

first major customer in the 

upper Midwest, using 

ELWd® structures for watershed restoration.

Thorson said that as Forest Concepts develops licensee and partner arrangements, they will continue 

to focus on product development. They try to come 

out with one significant product each year. They 

currently have about 18 standard models from their 

10 different products. Their wood resource comes 

from various places and wherever it is available, 

including National Forests, state forests, local forest 

owners, or wood brokers. 

Dooley added, “We are always looking for other 

product applications, bringing together our biology 

and engineering expertise. We currently have a list 

of 10 products that people want us to develop or 

find a solution to something that is currently not 
12

ecologically acceptable. People bring us problems 

and opportunities all the time.” 

Forest Concepts is an entrepreneurial business that 

we will all enjoy watching as it continues to succeed. They are well aware that “cookie cutter” solutions will never answer the problems that they are 

trying to solve. But these owners have an extraordinary, innovative spirit that will help them develop 

the best solution. More importantly, they are strong 

believers in “community solutions for communitybased problems.”

Contact information: 

Forest Concepts 

1020 S. 344th St. Suite 211 

Federal Way, WA 98003 

253-838-4759 

www.elwdsystems.com 
13

Plummer Forest Products 

ot only is Plummer Forest Products a model 

saw mill, they are the only mill in Idaho that 

saws exclusively smalldiameter logs. Todd 

Brinkmeyer owns 

Plummer Forest Products, 

which mills stud lumber—2 by 3s, 2 by 4s, and 

2 by 6s in 8- and 9-foot 

lengths, recovering some 

5-, 6-, and 7-foot lengths. 

Just 34 miles south of 

Coeur d’Alene (Benewah 

County) is Plummer, 

Idaho, which has a population of about 800 and is located within the Coeur 

d’Alene Indian Reservation. 

Todd grew up in the lumber mill business—his father owns Riley Creek Lumber in Laclede, Idaho, 

92 miles northwest of Plummer. Aspiring to follow 

in his father’s footsteps, yet wanting to diversify, 

Todd purchased the sawmill in Plummer. This mill 

is located on the site of the old Rayonier mill that 

burned in 1998. After the fire, the Coeur d’Alene 

Tribe purchased the mill, and Todd purchased it 

from them through a 7-year contract. The section of 

land used to store the mill’s logs was not part of the 

sale, although the Tribe has given Todd a 100-year 

lease on that section.

Todd must have had a premonition of sorts, knowing that the wood supply in this country was undergoing a change, and if he wanted to continue in the 

lumber manufacturing business, his business would 

have to change along with the future of the wood 

resource. Before investing, Todd completed mill 

feasibility studies, which indicated that a profit 

could be made by operating a small-log mill. 

“But,” Todd said, “it has been a lot harder than I 

thought it was going to be. Getting the business off 

the ground took an entire year. We started production with one shift on June 16, 2002.” Adding to 

what already existed on the site (a planer, cogeneration plant, and other support buildings, such as the 

office, rail spur, and shop), Todd purchased new 

small-log mill equipment. 

Todd has the advantage of 

sharing Riley Creek’s Sales 

Department, which has expanded since the Plummer 

mill opened. They also share 

Riley Creek’s Resource Department, which procures 

logs for both mills. In 2003, 

Plummer Forest Products 

employed 76 people. Monday 

through Friday, they run two 

shifts in the sawmill and one 

9-hour planer shift. “The mill 

could easily add a third shift in the sawmill if the 

wood was available,” noted Alan Harper, Resource 

Manager, who has been at Plummer Forest Products 

since day one. 

The mill buys logs from various places, such as 

northeast Oregon, Canada, and the Coast of Washington. It primarily processes Douglas-fir, larch, 

white fir–hemlock, lodgepole pine, and cedar logs. 

Loggers truck in both large- and small-diameter 

logs to Plummer. The logs are divided, and those 

larger than 11 inches in diameter are sent on to the 

Riley Creek mill. This helps both mills keep their 

trucking costs down. 

Alan says, “The best logs to work with are 4 to 

5 inches on the small end and 7 to 8 inches on the 

big end. Logs larger than this are remanufactured to 

16 feet and either sent to the Riley Creek mill or 

sold to somebody else.” The maximum log length 

that Plummer accepts is 37-1/2 feet. 

Plummer Forest Products processes about 750 loads 

of logs per month, with only about five loads per 

month coming from National Forests; fewer than 

30 loads per month are from State land. National 

Forests cover 73% of the land in Idaho. 

Alan explains, “It actually takes more room to store 

little logs than big ones. They don’t stack well or as 

high. There’s a lot more work to them. Last July, 

N
14

we started to deck logs and watered them all summer long until about October when it started to get 

cold.”

In the summer, they take in about 60 loads of logs 

per day. In March 2003, they processed about 5,000 

tons of logs per week. Their annual production was 

60 million board feet of lumber, or 230,000 tons of 

logs. Currently, they have roughly 39,000 tons of 

small-diameter logs in the yard. 

They buy logs by the ton and measure recovery by 

the ton. Every week they weigh three loads of logs, 

send them through the sawmill, and weigh the 

product that comes out. That’s how they figure recovery rate, which they estimate at 50%. On average, they process 20,000 logs into 60,000 pieces of 

lumber every day. 

Alan says it’s a pretty simple milling process. 

“Logs in, lumber out.” It begins by a hydraulic 

heel-boom loader (crawler track mounted) that lifts 

the small logs onto the live deck. Then, the logs are 

fed into the ring debarker. From the debarker, the 

logs are machine drawn into the bucking station 

where a person-operated machine determines the 

length each log is to be cut. Then, variable saws cut 

the log in either 8- or 9-foot lengths. From the 

bucking station, the log drops into a bin. From 

there, the log is scanned by a computer. 

A computer automatically scans each log and 

makes an analysis and visual graph of the log on the 

screen monitor. The computer evaluates how much 

the log needs to be rotated to get out the maximum 

product from that particular log. The sawing 

equipment interprets the computer’s analysis, and 

the log is automatically rotated appropriately and 

cut into studs. The scanning and analysis process 

takes place very quickly. The computer is set so that 

no more than 11⁄2-inch curve is allowed in an 8-foot 

board.

This state-of-the-art computer technology reduces 

the cost of log processing at the sawmill and maximizes recovery. Todd said, “This computer technology makes sawing small logs viable; it processes 

small logs fast. Five years ago, this technology 

would not have been available at a cost-effective 

price.” (See sidebar on Best Opening Face.) 

After the log has been sawn, the studs mechanically 

proceed to the stacker and are separated according 

to species by an automatic lumber sorter. The studs 
15

are then sticker-stacked 

and put into the dry kiln. 

From the dry kiln, the 

studs are taken to the 

planer, which provides a 

uniform finish thickness. 

The final product is then 

stacked, banded, 

wrapped, labeled, and put 

on rail cars for shipment. 

A 5-megawatt cogeneration plant, which operates 

24 hours per day, 7 days 

per week, was part of the 

existing Plummer Forest 

Products mill purchase. 

The cogeneration plant 

provides steam to operate 

the mill’s dry kiln and 

enough electricity for 

about 4,000 homes. 

“Small-diameter trees do 

not produce as much bark 

as large-diameter trees, so 

our mill doesn’t have 

enough hog fuel to run 

the cogenerator; we buy 

four to five semi-loads of 

hog fuel per day. We do 

make money from operating the cogeneration plant but not a large profit.” 

The cogenerator’s boiler has a 1956 turbine, which, 

Alan adds, “just seems to run every day with almost 

no maintenance.” 

Todd says that the mill has few opportunities to get 

involved in community projects. However, they 

have worked with University of Idaho researchers 

on some small-diameter lumber studies. They 

helped in a local stream restoration project by 

offering the use of 

their equipment and provided the logs to build a 

small wooden bridge. 

In the nearby town of 

St. Maries, they donated 

the material to build a 

25-foot-diameter smalllog pavilion in the 

town’s park through a 

project sponsored by the 

Chamber of Commerce. 

As the tour came to an 

end, Todd commented 

that their biggest problem is the low price for 

lumber. “The lumber 

market is absolutely the 

biggest challenge to everybody in this business.” 

Plummer Forest Products 

has been not only a huge 

economic asset to this 

community but one that 

is an outstanding example of small-log processing. It is obvious at this 

mill that speed and 

automation, without sacrificing quality, equal 

revenue. So far, Todd’s premonition has played 

out—he continues to work and profit in the business 

he grew up in by adapting to the new wood 

resource.

Contact information: 

Plummer Forest Products 

Plummer, Idaho 

208-686-9080
16

Best Opening Face & Sawmill Improvement Program

(John Rusty Dramm, Forest Products Utilization 

Specialist, USDA Forest Service, Technology Marketing Unit, Forest Products Laboratory)

In the 1960s, the USDA Forest Service predicted a 

timber shortage in the United States by 2000. To 

meet increased demands for improved conversion 

efficiency, the Best Opening Face (BOF) system 

was developed at the Forest Products Laboratory 

(FPL) to extend the Nation’s timber supply. FPL 

researchers developed the BOF computer sawing 

simulation model for maximizing lumber volume 

recovery from small logs. In the 1970s and 1980s, 

this FPL-developed technology aided the retooling 

and automation of the sawmill industry in adapting 

from large old-growth to small-diameter secondgrowth timber.

The adoption of BOF by industry was made possible by the highly successful national technology 

transfer effort of the National Sawmill Improvement 

Program (SIP). The SIP, led by the State & Private 

Forestry Unit at FPL, worked closely with FPL researchers and the National Wood Products Extension Program (NWPEP) in transferring BOF 

technology. This national SIP team developed 

sawmill assessment tools to increase lumber recovery. 

In conducting and analyzing SIP study data, BOF 

was used to predict potential lumber recovery for a 

sawmill under a given set of manufacturing conditions. This theoretical maximum recovery was compared with actual lumber recovery, and areas for 

improvement were identified. Recommendations for 

specific mill improvements were reported to each of 

the participating mill owners. NWPEP also provided 

educational programs to aid mill operators in making these mill improvements. 

The SIP conducted more than 2,000 lumber recovery studies and reached more than half the U.S. 

softwood lumber sawmill production capacity. Nationally, SIP was responsible for an improvement in 

lumber recovery of about 4% of the total U.S. softwood production. This is more than a billion board 

feet annually, or enough wood to build all the 

houses in Madison, Wisconsin, each year. 

The sawmill industry recognized the importance of 

and potential gains in lumber recovery by adopting 

BOF technology. Commercialization was accomplished by industry as they incorporated the BOF 

sawing model with optical log scanners and 

computerized sawing systems to maximize recovery of softwood dimension lumber. Today, most 

softwood dimension lumber in the United States 

and around the world is manufactured using BOFbased sawing optimization technology pioneered at 

the FPL and brought to industry by the Sawmill Improvement Program. 

The following publications on BOF and SIP are 

available through FPL’s website (www.fpl.fs.fed.us):

Forest Products Laboratory. 2000. Forest Products 

Laboratory research program on small-diameter 

material. Gen. Tech. Rep. FPL–GTR–110 (Rev.). 

Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. 31 p. 

(www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr110.pdf)

Abigail R. Stern, Hiram Hallock, and David W. 

Lewis. 1979. Improving Sawing Accuracy Does 

Help. Res. Pap. FPL–RP–320. Madison, WI: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest 

Products Laboratory. 12 p. 

(www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrp/fplrp320.pdf)

Hiram Hallock, Philip Steele, and Richard Selin. 

1979. Comparing Lumber Yields From Board-Foot 

and Cubically Scaled Logs. Res. Pap. FPL–RP–

324. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. 16 p. 

(www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrp/fplrp324.pdf)

Hiram Hallock, Abigail R. Stern, and David W. 

Lewis. 1978. Is There a “Best” Sawing Method? 

Res. Pap. FPL–RP–280. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest 

Products Laboratory. 12 p. 

(www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrp/fplrp280.pdf)

Frank Freese. 1974. A Collection of Log Rules. 

Gen. Tech. Rep. FPL–GTR–1. Madison, WI: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest 

Products Laboratory. 65 p. 

(www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr01.pdf)

Hiram Hallock and David W. Lewis. 1971. Increasing softwood dimension yield from small logs—Best 

Opening Face. Res. Pap. FPL–RP–166. Madison, 

WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Forest Products Laboratory. 11 p. 

(www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrp/fplrp166.pdf)
17

Porterbilt Post & Pole 

on Porter, owner of Porterbilt Post & Pole, 

has helped operate this Montana familyowned business for more than 30 years. Ron is 

lucky in that he makes a profit from one of the last 

surviving post & pole businesses in the Bitterroot 

Valley. He has done so by 

constantly adapting his business to take advantage of the 

available resource. Ron calls 

it “turning a liability into an 

asset.” 

Portertbilt is located just 

south of Hamilton, Montana, 

in the Bitterroot Valley, 

which is known as the Banana Belt of Montana. This 

valley—lying between the 

Bitterroot and the Sapphire 

mountain ranges—is 25 miles 

wide and 96 miles long, 

about 2,383 square miles. 

Unfortunately, the Bitterroot Valley was the worst 

hit in the forest fires of 2000. 

In the beginning, a family member suggested buying out a local post & pole plant. Ron says, “This 

was about as smart as hauling salt into Salt Lake 

City, because we weren’t aware that everyone made 

their own fence posts at that time. People couldn’t 

afford to buy posts.” 

Initially, Russ and Alta Porter (Ron’s parents) and 

three of their sons started the business. Times were 

tough for the Porterbilt family. They often worked 

at other jobs just to make ends meet. At one time, 

Ron worked full time for the telephone company, 

doing inside and outside installation. 

Only 14 months after the family started the business, one of Ron’s brothers left to pursue other interests. Because they couldn’t get out of their 

contract, the family continued on. Ron said, “We 

just kept on with the business the best we knew 

how.” With the death of Russ Porter and the physical limitations of his other brother, Ron purchased 

their interest in the business in the 1990s. 

It wasn’t until the late 1970s that the business 

started to pick up. New people moved into the area 

and began buying fence posts. Little by little the 

business started to grow. Initially, Ron did all the 

logging for the family post & pole plant. He cut the 

raw timber from Forest Service timber sales and hauled 

the logs to the plant. There, 

his father and three other 

workers processed the logs. 

They would get all their 

timber in long lengths in the 

summer, then spend the 

winter processing it.

Ron said at one time there 

were five post & pole businesses in the area, and the 

Forest Service offered post 

& pole sales or sawlog sales 

to help supply these businesses. Eventually, there 

were fewer and fewer of these sales. Porterbilt was 

the only post & pole company that had their own 

logging equipment, which kept them going at the 

time. Eventually, Porterbilt also discontinued

logging. 

At present, their raw material is purchased from 

loggers who deliver to their plant. The logger drives 

onto the Porterbilt scales, and the material is 

weighed by the ton. The price is negotiated, which 

varies depending on transportation costs and how it 

was logged.

Most of the material Porterbilt buys is smalldiameter lodgepole pine. As in previous years, their 

entire 1-year inventory is purchased within 

3 months. The other months of the year are spent 

processing the wood. Ron explains that “you have 

to have a huge inventory on hand because you can’t 

work with wet wood; it has to air dry for at least a 

year before they can process it into a final product.” 

Porterbilt runs an efficient and mechanized operation. After the raw material is purchased from the 

logger, it is machine-stacked on one end of their 

R
18

land. Later on it moves to a log processor that cuts 

it to a specified length. Next, the bark is removed 

using a log peeler; then another machine sorts the 

logs by diameter according to end-product use. 

Ron preservative-treats his posts & poles using a 

cold soak of copper napthenate “until it takes.” He 

treats outdoors, only in the summer, in a huge tanktype container, using diesel fuel and wood chips to 

heat the chemical. Ron notes that they are gradually 

getting out of the fencing business and more into 

the value-added product area. Although he knows 

that the profit is in the value-added products area, 

he will continue to sell posts & poles to satisfy his 

long-term customer base. 

Between 1975 and 1980, the log home business 

started to pick up. Log homebuyers wanted some of 

the interior parts of their log homes to blend with 

the exterior. However, log homebuilders initially 

built only the basic log home, no extras. Thus, some 

of the local log homeowners came to Porterbilt for 

items such as balcony, banister, and railing materials, which could be made using fence post material. 

Shortly thereafter is when Porterbilt invested in a 

rounding machine that cost about $100,000, in 

order to make precision connections so that the 

wood has a good “fit” into the end product. As 

word spread, Porterbilt began doing business with 

log homebuilders all over the United States. 

Ron sees his future in value-added wood products. 

To survive in this business, he explains that you 

need to make it economically feasible to get the 

small wood to a plant, be able to make something 

out of it that is value-added, and effectively market 

that product. Ron said “Every year I see more of my 

friends going out of this business. My future is 

definitely in value-added products.”

Over the years, Porterbilt has invested in several 

wood processing machines. Ron says “We have 

mechanized our plant to where there is little hand 

work except in the value-added products.” He is 

quick to add, “We have never laid off anyone, using 

only attrition to cut down our workforce.” 

Ron’s most recent value-added product is furniture—such as chairs, nightstands, towel racks, 

magazine racks, bed frames, and tables—

manufactured using small-diameter material. Currently, word of mouth is his only marketing tool. He 
19

has been building various pieces of furniture for 

about 5 years, developing a few good quality products. Ron intends to refine his product line before 

he starts a heavy marketing campaign. “We want to 

be ready to meet the market demand and produce a 

quality product. We think we are ready for the next 

step—marketing,” noted Ron. 

You won’t see any wood waste at Porterbilt. Every 

scrap of wood is used in some way—even the wood 

shavings are put to use. 

Ron has worked out a 

business deal with a 

local person who buys 

and picks up the short, 

unusable pieces that 

have been cut from 

longer poles. This person re-packages this 

wood and sells it as 

firewood to customers 

all over the United 

States. Some of the 

wood shavings are 

used for bedding under 

playground equipment 

in local schools; most 

of the shavings are 

used for animal

bedding. 

Ron tries to fine-tune 

his business everyday. 

His next project will 

be to investigate installing a dry kiln. Currently, he uses stickertype air-drying. 

Ron is very much involved in and part of 

the Bitterroot community. He has been on 

the local school board 

and proudly displays in 

his office a picture of 

himself with the local 

volunteer

fire department. In 2001, he joined in a venture with 

the Forest Service that prominently exhibited the 

Bitterroot Valley and his business at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah. 

In an effort to assist rural communities and forest 

restorations throughout the West, the USDA Forest 

Service, Technology Marketing Unit (TMU), located at the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, 

Wisconsin, has been exploring the use of smalldiameter softwood and 

hardwood timber to 

build roundwood 

structures.

The TMU worked with 

national forests and rural 

communities to build 

two small-diameter 

roundwood information 

kiosks for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt 

Lake City. Each kiosk is 

approximately 25 feet in 

diameter, enclosed, and 

heated.

One of these kiosks was 

made from donated 

materials and processed 

by Porterbilt Post & 

Pole. Located at the 

mouth of Ogden Canyon, this kiosk served as 

an information center 

for the Bonneville 

Shoreline Trail System, 

the Ogden River Scenic 

Byway, and other recreation opportunities on 

the Wasatch–Cache 

National Forest and 

within Weber County 

and Ogden City. After 

the Olympics, this kiosk 

became a permanent 

structure and is continuing to be used by the 

community.
20

In addition to the Olympic kiosk, Ron has built a 

similar kiosk at the Lewis & Clark Traveler’s Rest 

site in Lolo, Montana, and the trusses and roundwood supports used in the new Darby Library in 

Montana.

Because of his creativity, progressive nature, and 

adaptability, not only has Ron Porter survived in the 

family post & pole business but he is thriving. 

Porterbilt is open Monday through Friday. Stop 

in—even though Ron might be heading out 

somewhere in his 4×4 extended cab pickup, his 

daughter, Ronda, or other employees will be on 

hand to help you out. 

Contact information: 

Porterbilt Post & Pole 

1727 Hwy 93 South 

Hamilton, MT 59840 

406-363-1456 

www.porterbiltlog.com 
21 

Potlatch Corporation 

n October 2003, Todd Smrekar, Plant Manager 

for Potlatch Corporation, gave me a tour of their 

165-employee oriented 

strandboard (OSB) plant, 

which is located just outside the very small 

community of Cook, 

Minnesota. 

OSB is a high-strength 

engineered wood composite product that is 

easily adaptable to a 

changing resource. It is 

manufactured from thin, 

geometrically shaped wood strands that are bonded 

together using a water-resistant resin under heat and 

pressure to form panels of various thicknesses; it is 

used extensively for roof, wall, and floor sheathing 

in all types of construction. 

The Potlatch Corporation is a diversified forest 

products company with more than 1.5 million acres 

of timberlands in Arkansas, Idaho, and Minnesota, 

and has been in business since 1903. Since then, it 

has merged with other companies and has changed 

its corporate name three times. Potlatch manufactures lumber, OSB, plywood, particleboard, wood 

chips, bleached paperboard and kraft pulp, and consumer tissue. They have OSB plants in Bemidji, 

Cook, and Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Most of their 

OSB is sold within the United States. 

Todd noted that “their Cook plant produces about 

430 million board feet (3/8-inch basis) of OSB annually. We are considered a mid-sized plant within 

the U.S. forest products industry.” 

Aspen is the primary species used in Minnesota for 

Potlatch’s OSB mills. In an effort to use the forest 

as it grows, Todd says they are incorporating up to 

25% alternative species, such as pine and birch, for 

use in their OSB mills. 

OSB can utilize a variety of wood-based raw materials. Emphasis at their plant is not just use of 

small-diameter timber but using alternative species. 

Right now they are focusing on other underutilized 

species, such as tamarack, 

maple, and birch, which 

they have in abundance. 

Recently, Todd said, they 

have been looking at the 

pine species. Problems 

here include getting the 

bark off without shattering 

the wood. Through trial 

and error, they have discovered Norway and Jack 

pine can be used for OSB. 

Todd says that “They are not using these species 

just because it benefits Potlatch, but because it is a 

benefit to the forest.” 

Potlatch forest lands in Minnesota provide approximately 10% of the fiber used in the company’s 

wood product mills. Additional fiber is purchased 

from public and private lands. 

Todd says they try to maintain a strong relationship 

with the community. “Potlatch owns a lot of the 

forest land here. The people who work here live 

here, and we care what happens to the environment. 

We take pride in what we do. We try to build relationships among all the people living in the community.” 

Although mining has driven the economy in Cook 

for the past 100 years, wood is now the main economic factor in northeastern Minnesota. 

The OSB plant in Cook is very efficient. They burn 

their hog fuel (bark and trim waste) at the mill to 

provide heat for their press, dryers, and buildings. 

In fact, Todd says they generate more waste than 

they can use, but they have a market for the excess 

bark and sell it to Hill Wood Products in Cook. 

“This way, it’s not going to a landfill and we save 

the transportation costs to haul it there.” 

Logs that range from 3 to 22 inches in diameter 

come into their OSB mill. These logs are cut into 

I 
22

100-inch lengths and run through water ponds. The 

primary purpose of the ponds is to condition the 

logs in the winter time. The logs are then debarked 

and flaked into strands—about 5 inches long by 

1 inch wide, with a target thickness of 0.028 inch—

which then go to the dryer. Typically, moisture content of the wood strands is about 35% to 50% coming in to the dryer and about 4% after drying. 

The strands are stored in dry bins until they go 

through the blending process where the glue is applied as a liquid spray. As they go through the panel 

forming line, the flakes are oriented in four layers 

and pressed at about 400qF and 2,000 pounds per 

square inch. The final result is an 8- by 24-foot 

master panel, which can be sawn into many sizes 

but primarily 4- by 8-foot panels. “Our process 

emits no VOCs [volatile organic chemicals]. 

What you see coming from the stacks is only 

water vapor.” 

OSB panels are tested daily by their quality control 

system. Their OSB panels must meet or exceed the 

industry’s stringent requirements and are put 

through 24 rigorous performance tests. 

In 2004, Potlatch became the first public company 

in the nation to be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The certification applies to their 

670,000 acres of forests in Idaho. The certification 

is like an environmental seal of approval. It assures 

consumers that they are not buying lumber made 

from old growth trees. 

OSB is an ideal use for small-diameter material and 

for the many species that were not considered 

commercial 40 years ago, such as aspen. However, 

the capital investment in an OSB plant is substantial 

and requires a long-term assurance of supply. 

Contact information: 

Potlatch Corporation 

Wood Products, Minnesota Division 

Cook Oxboard Plant 

9358 U.S. Highway 53 

Cook, MN 55723 

218-666-6901 
23

SBS Wood Shavings 

he came to New Mexico from western Texas in 

1995; he was born and raised in New Mexico. 

Together, Glen and Sherry Barrow not only are 

passionate about being 

good stewards of the land 

but are actively participating in restoring the health 

of the forests in southeastern New Mexico, primarily the Lincoln National 

Forest.

Located in Lincoln 

County, just outside 

Ruidoso on Highway 70, 

the Barrows have a 5-year lease from the county for 

the previously vacant Glencoe Rural Events Center. 

This is the site where they have set up their wood 

shavings operation, using material from forest thinning projects. 

The USDA Forest Service has identified a need for 

thinning a third of the 270,000 acres in two ranger 

districts (Smokey Bear and Sacramento) within the 

Lincoln National Forest. Estimates are that the Lincoln National Forest will grow 30 to 40 million 

board feet per year, with a loss on average of 

7 million board feet to insects. 

In 1996, Sherry started a firm called Sherry Barrow 

Strategies, doing mostly long-range strategic planning for local companies. Her mission is to “Reinvest people in their own communities with the 

history, culture, and quality of life we share.” Her 

business led her to do a public audio tour of the 

Billy the Kid National Scenic Byway. A regional 

National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate then asked 

her to do a series of audio tours for the local station, 

and this series turned into a syndicated radio show. 

For 11 years, Glen worked for Hubbard Enterprises, 

a racetrack owner and benefactor of Hubbard Museum of the American West. Glen has also been a 

commercial building contractor since the early 

1980s.

The mission of Sherry’s firm conveniently dovetailed with the couple’s long-time interest in forest 

restoration. Eventually, they decided it was time to 

fit it all together and build a company—SBS Wood 

Shavings. Their hopes are that this company will 

benefit the community by 

increasing job opportunities, assisting in forest restoration, and creating an 

ecologically sound 

byproduct. 

In 2001, SBS Wood Shavings applied for $330,000 

in Federal grant funds 

through the USDA Forest 

Service National Fire Plan. 

Through this Plan, the U.S. Congress provided 

funds, starting in 2001, for forest health and fire 

hazard reduction. After receiving the grants, the 

Barrows forged full-steam ahead with their plan to 

produce wood shavings for animal bedding, a product that is in demand and one that no one else is 

producing in the immediate area. Glen said, “We 

decided on this product [wood shavings], because it 

is currently somewhat under produced.” 

To gear up for operation, the Barrows spent considerable time researching the right product and finding the appropriate equipment for their business. 

They have hauled in equipment to make wood shavings from as far away as Wisconsin, Maine, and 

even Canada. Some of their equipment is new and 

some used. 

As they were gearing up for operation, Sherry 

and Glen became aware of and submitted a 

proposal to participate in a National Small-Scale 

Biomass Energy demonstration project cosponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy 

through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory 

(NREL) in Golden, Colorado, and the USDA Forest 

Service, Technology Marketing Unit (TMU), 

located at the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL),

in Madison, Wisconsin. The project involved installing biomass equipment that is a prototype 

gasification unit that burns waste wood to create 

electricity (15–20 kilowatts). In May 2002, SBS 

S
24

Wood Shavings was selected to receive one of the 

demonstration units, which was installed 

October 29, 2002. 

Before opening, SBS Wood Shavings had already 

begun to stockpile material to be used. They produce wood shavings from pine, pinyon, spruce, and 

fir. The trees, from 4 to 12 inches in diameter, need 

to be cut in 100-inch lengths. The 100-inch logs are 

fed into the shaving machine, which leaves fine 

sawdust that is screened and carried by an air handler to a 12-million-Btu/hour burner. This burner 

heats a 26,000-pound rotary dryer that sterilizes the 

wood shavings. 

Their operation requires about 12-1/2 cords of 

wood per day, 5 days per week. They expect it to 

eventually increase to 25 cords per day, 5 days per 

week. Contractors are paid between $40 and $50 

per cord to deliver material to their business site. 

And, SBS keeps track of where the material originated (thinning contract name, map of site, Forest 

Service contracting officer). Glen says, “One of our 

biggest constraints is getting the logs delivered to 

our business.” 

Sherry noted that “We plan to employ about four 

people the first year and if all goes right; about six 

to eight employees into our second year. We plan to 

run an 8-hour, 5-day-per-week shift plant.” 

Potential customers include horse trainers from the 

Ruidoso Racetrack, which is located nearby. So far, 

Glen and Sherry have done little formal advertising 

but already have many customers interested in buying their product. SBS Wood Shavings expects to 

be fully sustainable in about 5 years, although it 

could be less if all goes well. 

National Small-Scale Biomass 

Energy Demonstration 

At the same time that the USDA Forest Service, Technology marketing Unit (TMU) was providing opportunities to 

rural communities and businesses to diversify and expand their economies by turning wood into energy, the 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was 

working on new technologies that produce distributed 

power (generation of power at or near points of consumption with or without connection to the existing power grid). 

These technologies include the use of small, modular 

biomass systems that produce less than 5 megawatts of 

electricity using biomass, such as forest residue. 

TMU & NREL merged their efforts into a cooperative national project aimed at demonstrating the use of smallscale biopower units to produce electricity using wood 

chips. The project involved first designing and building a 

small (up to 15 kilowatts peak power) biopower demonstration unit, then demonstrating the unit in communities/groups for up to 2 years each, depending on the 

requirements and conditions at each site. 

This small biomass unit holds tremendous opportunities 

for both offsetting some local energy needs and using 

forest residues. However, this technology is still in the 

pre-commercial phase. To bring down the cost of this 

technology and to gain a better understanding of the 

operation and maintenance of these pre-commercial 

units, additional evaluation is necessary. Also, assessment is needed to determine the potential market for this 

technology. 

To address some of these issues, NREL and TMU are 

conducting a nation-wide demonstration program. The 

primary objectives of this program are to 

x evaluate the capability of a small biopower unit to offset energy requirements for a single operation, such 

as a business, community center, school, or some 

other local group; 

x assess the potential of using wood chips as the fuel 

source;

x determine operating and cost parameters; 

x demonstrate this technology to a wide variety of potential users; and 

x recommend modifications and procedures for more 

efficient operation. 

The immediate future for Glen and Sherry involves 

getting their business completely operational. 

Eventually, they will look into the possibility of 

producing other wood products using material removed from forest restorations, but for now they 

are concentrating on wood shavings. 

Contact information: 

SBS Wood Shavings 

Glencoe, New Mexico 

505-653-4980 

www.sherry@sbswoodshavings.com/
25

Timber Products Company 

ill Turner, Log/Timber Procurement Manager, 

has worked at several other mills in California 

but has been at the Timber Products Company 

Yreka plant for the past 

10 years. Timber Products 

is a privately held company and the second largest hardwood plywood 

producer in the nation. 

Bill says, “It is a great 

company to work for and 

I especially enjoy the 

wonderful employees that 

I work with at our Yreka 

mill.”

Timber Products Company owns and manages nine 

manufacturing facilities. For more than 10 years, 

Timber Products Company has been an importer of 

commodity and specialty wood products. They also 

operate a trucking fleet, with more than 150 company-owned or owner–operator trucks in the 48 

contiguous states, and a brokerage division. Timber 

Products owns and manages on a sustained yield 

basis approximately 130,000 acres of timberland in 

northern California and southern Oregon. 

Their main sales offices are located in Springfield, 

Oregon, and Memphis, Tennessee. They offer several panel, veneer, and solid-wood products: 

 Hardwood lumber 

 Hardwood veneer 

 Softwood veneer 

 Hardwood plywood 

 Pre-finished hardwood plywood 

 Softwood plywood 

 Decorative overlays and value-added products 

 Particleboard

 Imported panel products 

 Imported specialty products 

 Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) 

The Timber Products facility in Yreka produces 

primarily softwood veneer. It has 110 employees 

and operates three shifts. Ten percent of their log 

supply comes from public lands, 30% from their 

own forestlands, and 70% 

from the open market. Bill 

notes that “10 years ago, 

we purchased about 80% 

of our supply from public 

lands.”

The Yreka plant produces 

Douglas-fir, white fir, and 

pine veneer cores in 4-, 8-, 

9- and 10-foot lengths and 

ships it to their softwood 

and hardwood plywood 

plants in Oregon. They 

attribute the softwood veneer produced in their 

Yreka plant as a key factor in being able to produce 

a high-quality hardwood plywood panel. Bill explained that as hardwood veneer skins have become 

increasingly thinner, the quality of the softwood 

inner plies under the veneer face and back becomes 

increasingly important to the quality of the panel. 

“A smaller, more uniform, second growth log provides this consistently better veneer.” 

The facility in Yreka has been there since the 

1960s, and Timber Products purchased it in the 

early 1970s. About 5 years ago, they installed new 

high-speed rotary veneer equipment. 

“We run through about 70 million board feet of logs 

per year at this site. Our small 4-foot lathe handles 

8-inch-diameter and smaller logs. We can go down 

to 4-1/2 inches but would prefer to keep the range 

between 5- and 8-inch diameter. Financially, it 

doesn’t pay to use logs less than 5-inch-diameter. 

Logs larger than 8-inch diameter are peeled on our 

big lathe. The ideal log size is 14 inch diameter.” 

According to Bill, up to 32-inch diameter on the big 

end is as large as they can go; their debarker is the 

limiting factor for this size. 

They do not dry the veneer in Yreka because they 

have no natural gas on site, which makes drying 

costs prohibitive. The veneer is shipped and dried at 

B
26

their softwood and hardwood plywood plants in 

Oregon. The veneer requires 8 to 20 minutes for 

drying, depending on species and the thickness of 

the peel. 

Bill is aware of only one other company that produces small-diameter softwood veneer cores. “The 

technology and equipment to produce softwood 

veneer using these small diameters didn’t exist 

7 years ago.” As far as Bill knows, Timber Products 

was the first to install the equipment and begin producing small-diameter veneer. Bill added that “the 

last 6 months have been great for us because of the 

increase in demand for plywood, but the 3 years 

preceding that was financially tough.”

Timber Products Company has an 83-year history 

and has become one of the most diversified wood 

products companies in the United States. On their 

130,000 acres of timberlands in northern California 

and southern Oregon, they plant about 400,000 

trees each year from seed collected from their lands. 

Timber Products was the first hardwood plywood 

manufacturer in the world authorized to carry the 

SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative®) program 

label.

Contact information: 

Timber Products Company 

P.O. Box 766 

Yreka, CA 96097 

530-842-2310 office 

530-842-3825 fax 

www.timberproducts.com

Sustainable Forestry Initiative® 

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) program 

is a comprehensive system of principles, objectives, 

and performance measures developed by professional foresters, conservationists, and scientists, 

among others, that combines the perpetual growing 

and harvesting of trees with the long-term protection of wildlife, plants, soil, and water quality. More 

than 136 million acres of forestland in North America is currently enrolled in the SFI® program, making it among the world’s largest sustainable forestry 

programs.

To ensure forests are protected, the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) developed the 

SFI program to document the commitment of their 

members and the program’s licensees to keep our 

forests healthy and practice the highest level of sustainable forestry. The SFI program was adopted by 

AF&PA in 1994, and as a testament to the association’s strong commitment to the goal of sustainable 

forestry, participation in the SFI program is a condition of membership for AF&PA. Since 1994, AF&PA 

has asked 17 members to leave the association for 

failing to meet the SFI standard. 

The SFI program is overseen by the Sustainable 

Forestry Board (SFB), an independent 501(c)3 organization responsible for maintaining and enhancing the SFI standard and verification procedures. 

The SFB has 15 members, two-thirds of which 

come from a wide range of non-industry interests, 

including environmental/conservation organizations, 

public officials (state and/or Federal agencies), professional/academic groups, logging professionals, 

and non-industrial landowners. The remaining five 

representatives on the SFB are AF&PA members.
27

Wallowa Resources 

hose familiar with 

Wallowa Resources 

are proud to tell the story 

of how this successful 

organization came about. 

It happened in the back 

room of the local Cloud 9 

bakery as a direct result 

of meetings among 

county officials and concerned citizens. 

Wallowa Resources is a 

community-based, nonprofit organization dedicated to sustaining the 

county’s economy and ecosystems. Based in Enterprise, Oregon, its mission is to 

x promote community, forest, and watershed 

health while creating family-wage job and business opportunities and 

x broaden understanding of the links between 

community well-being and ecosystem health. 

To comprehend the significance of Wallowa Resources, you need to understand the background of 

this community. Enterprise lies within Wallowa 

County of the Blue Mountain region in the northeast corner of Oregon. It includes rock-walled canyons, river valleys, many mountain lakes, and 

forests. Only about 7,200 people live in Wallowa 

County. Timber, ranching, agriculture, and tourism 

provide jobs for the local economy. 

Wallowa County’s economy is ranked almost last in 

the state. In February 2001, their unemployment 

rate was 19%. From 1991 to 2001, the wood products sector in this county lost more than 350 jobs. 

From 1985 to 1995, the volume of timber sold annually from the Wallowa–Whitman National Forest 

decreased from 504 million board feet to 

18 million. Those timber contracts represented an 

important funding source for this county, which 

received 25% of the proceeds from Forest Service 

timber sales. Needless to say, the decrease was a 

severe shock to the county’s 

$9 million budget. Instead 

of the $1 to $2 million 

received annually in the 

5 years preceding 1990, the 

county received only 

$86,000 by 1995, forcing 

deep cuts in county services. 

Having few logs to process, 

the local economy lost two 

sawmills, representing 120 

jobs. All these events caused 

a domino effect, resulting in 

a 22% decrease in construction jobs and a 13% decrease in manufacturing jobs in Wallowa County. 

In 1996, the community established Wallowa Resources to study the forest health and community 

health situations and, in turn, help local leadership 

provide sustainable employment in their county. 

In 2001, Wallowa Resources had an annual budget 

of more than $600,000, with more than $450,000 

paid out to 25+ local contractors for field work and 

project supplies. Some of their bigger projects included aspen restoration, Wallowa Lake Basin fuel 

reduction, Upper Joseph Creek vegetation assessment, and noxious weed management. 

In 2001, Wallowa Resources had a 6-person 

staff and a 12-member board, which is very active 

in the organization. The Board is responsible for 

overseeing the administrative operations of the organization and ensuring that the actions of Wallowa 

Resources reflect the mission of the organization. 

Membership is open to anyone who wants to participate. Wallowa Resources publishes a quarterly 

newsletter and holds open bi-monthly board 

meetings.

Wallowa Resources provides an annual program 

of speaker forums and field tours to introduce local 

as well as outside people to innovative ideas and 

opportunities. Programs focus on resource management and rural economic development issues.

T
28

This operation provides marketing and business 

plan writing courses to existing and new businesses. 

In addition, Wallowa Resources works with Wallowa Forest Products, Boise–Cascade, the USDA 

Forest Service, Oregon Economic Development 

District, Department of Environmental Quality, and 

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to pursue opportunities for creating jobs, improving local 

industry competitiveness, and increasing land 

productivity. 

Wallowa Resources asserts that they are working to 

unite the public, conservation and industry groups, 

and government agencies in a common goal of restoring the forest ecosystem and the economic 

health of Wallowa County. By all accounts, they are 

making great strides in accomplishing these goals. 

Contact information: 

Wallowa Resources 

P.O. Box 274 – 114 NW First Street 

Enterprise, OR 97828 

541-426-8053 

www.wallowaresources.org
29

Watershed Research &

Training Center and

Jefferson State Forest Products 

t would be rare to find 

a more dedicated, 

civic-minded couple than 

Lynn and Jim Jungwirth, 

who live in Hayfork, California. Although Lynn is 

Executive Director of the 

Watershed Research and 

Training Center and Jim is 

President and owner of 

Jefferson State Forest 

Products, it’s almost impossible to separate their 

stories, because they, like these two businesses, 

work together hand in hand. 

Hayfork, population 2,000, is located at an elevation of 2,300 feet in the center of very rural Trinity 

County. Trinity County covers the lower part of the 

Cascade Range in California, midway between 

Redding in Shasta County and the Northern Redwood Coast. Trinity County is approximately 3,200 

square miles of alpine magnificence. The area’s 

economy is based primarily on timber and recreation activities. Trinity County includes 2.1 million 

acres of forests, of which the USDA Forest Service 

manages 1.6 million acres. 

When I visited Jim Jungwirth in Hayfork, we ate 

breakfast and lunch at Irene’s Café, the only restaurant open for those meals in Hayfork. After breakfast, Jim showed me some of the beautiful 

countryside in Trinity County. As we drove in his 

pickup, along with his dog, Pepper, he told me the 

story of how he and Lynn had returned to Hayfork 

for the second time and what they were doing to 

help this small, economically deprived forest 

community. 

Jim grew up in Hayfork; his family has been in logging in Hayfork since 1956. Lynn was also born 

into a milling and logging family but in southern 

Oregon. When Lynn attended college at the University of Oregon, she met and married Jim, who was 

in graduate school at the same university. 

In 1973, after Jim served in the 

U.S. Army, he and Lynn 

moved to Hayfork. However, 

in 1979, they left Hayfork and 

moved to Portland, Oregon, 

where they ran an alternative 

energy company for the next 

10 years. Their move away 

from Hayfork was largely due 

to a hotly contested and defeated referendum over a 

community investment in a 

biomass unit that would have 

produced 15 megawatts, enough energy to provide 

electricity for the entire Trinity County as well as 

enough waste heat for 9 acres of greenhouses. 

Lynn and Jim made their second move back to Hayfork in 1989. This time, Jim ran a small gold mining 

company, and Lynn spent time doing community 

volunteer work, serving on the local school board, 

and starting a chapter of the Human Response Network (domestic violence assistance). 

In 1990, as a result of Federal laws passed to protect the northern spotted owl, the National Forests 

in Trinity County, almost 80% of the land, instantly 

became unavailable for harvesting. Prior to the 

spotted owl position, this community had harvested 

250 million feet of lumber per year. In 3 years, production dropped to 13 million feet per year, which 

devastated the community. 

The new Federal laws resulted in more than 30 logging families in Hayfork being out of work. Eventually, more than 150 families were affected when 

the largest sawmill operation, Sierra Pacific, closed 

its doors and left Hayfork in 1996. 

Jim and Lynn were well aware of the ensuing declining economy and poverty-stricken community. 

However, it really struck home the day Lynn, who 

had been invited to attend career day at the local 

high school, spoke to 19 seniors. Twelve of these 

seniors had no idea what they were going to do 

I
30

when they graduated; 6 of them wanted to stay another year in high school! 

Lynn was shocked and said to Jim, “These kids 

have no hope. Before, when times were good, our 

community had plenty of employment from the 

seven local sawmills plus Sierra Pacific. Three generations of Hayfork families had grown up on Sierra 

Pacific paychecks. But now these graduating students can no longer depend on making their livelihood from the woods or the sawmills. Society is 

basically telling them that working in the woods 

and the sawmills is bad. They don’t know what to 

do; they don’t want to leave home; they don’t want 

to go to the city. We have to instill hope in these 

kids; there has to be a way.” 

Two weeks later (1993), the Watershed Research 

and Training Center (WRTC) opened its doors in 

Hayfork, with Lynn Jungwirth as its Executive Director. WRTC is a community-based, nonprofit organization that promotes healthy communities and 

sustainable forests through research, education, 

training, and economic development. WRTC’s 

work “centers around the belief that the relationship 

between local communities and the public forest 

must change so that the economy can rebuild itself 

based on an ethic of land stewardship.” 

Shortly after the opening of WRTC, the owners of 

the gold mine that Jim managed decided to shut it 

down. Jim then worked on special projects for 

WRTC. Jim had also been working on a project for 

a company in Redding that wanted to develop a line 

of survey tripods. He was having some problems 

with one particular saw cut, so he called his friend, 

Greg Wilson, for some help. Greg is a 25-year master wood craftsman from Weaverville, a small town 

close to Hayfork. After much conversation, they 

decided to team up and start a secondary wood 

manufacturing business. Thus, Jefferson State Forest Products was born. 

As they continued to seek a consistent wood resource and to refine their business plans, Jim and 

Greg spent their spare time making prototype items. 

One day Jim got a call from a person in the San 

Francisco Bay area who had been involved in the 

demolition of the Stanford football stadium. He 

asked Jim if he would be interested in the stadium’s 

demolition wood, so Jim hauled out 17 truckloads 

of demolished Port Orford cedar. From that Port 

Orford cedar, Jim and Greg designed and built a 

line of English garden furniture and eventually sold 

it back to Stanford Alumni Association for a fundraiser.

In the beginning, there was no place to store the 

demolition cedar; they needed three-phase electrical 

power to operate their machines, and they required 

space to build the product. The only possible location was the Trinity County Fair Grounds, which 

was located in Hayfork. Jim was granted use of the 

Fair Grounds and allowed to install three-phase 

power, but the agreement was that the entire business had to move out during the County Fair. This 

being the only option, Jefferson State Forest Products moved into the Fair Grounds November 15, 

1995. On December 1, Jim and Greg produced their 

first English garden furniture product, and they continued to build 20 units a day for 11⁄2 year until they 

ran out of wood. 

During this same timeframe, Jim had traveled to 

New York City to attend a seminar on Socially Responsible Investment. Unfortunately, it turned out 

to be about stockbroker investments, not exactly the 

type of “social responsibility” Jim was hoping to 

learn about. However, on the second day of the conference, the Executive Vice President of Whole 

Foods Market gave the keynote presentation. Whole 

Foods Market is the world’s largest retailer of natural and organic foods, with 139 stores throughout 

the United States. 

At table conversation later, the Whole Foods executive and Jim struck up a conversation. Apparently, 

they had a mutual friend, Walter Robb, the Western 

Regional President of Whole Foods from San Francisco. The executive told Jim to call Walter and 

possibly he would have some woodworking 
31

opportunities for Jefferson State Forest Products. 

Jim followed up on the lead by contacting Walter, 

who initially ordered from Jim some wooden boxes 

for a special apple display. Having no wood to 

complete the project, Jim got permission to tear 

down “barnwood” from a friend’s abandoned buildings. This first order went well. Then, Whole Foods 

ordered some outdoor furniture, and before anyone 

realized it, Jefferson State Forest Products was up 

and running again and making a profit. 

Jefferson State Forest Products is the only secondary wood manufacturing company in Trinity 

County. In addition to the Whole Foods product 

line, Jim’s company manufactures cider presses, 

kitchen wares, cremation urns, wood flooring, retail 

displays, and cafe seating. Jim also sells specialty 

wood boards on E-Bay. He says selling on E-Bay 

produces “good profits but it requires a lot of prep 

work.” Jim’s business office is located next to the 

WRTC’s office. Jefferson State Forest Products 

employs two office personnel, one (Monique) who 

designed a product line of kitchen wares. 

Jim explained that Jefferson State Forest Products is 

“committed to purchasing raw material, whenever 

possible, from small, independent sawmills that 

produce low volumes of lumber harvested from private lands. We believe that the new forest management ethic that recognizes biodiversity and overall 

stewardship responsibility for the forest is more 

easily achieved by rural land managers and small 

producers. Material purchased from these sources 

supports our continued success in responsible forest 

management as well as supporting the rural communities in which we live.” Jefferson State Forest 

Products also uses recycled wood whenever 

possible.

Another unique quality of Jefferson State Forest 

Products is that they offer a variety of items made 

from suppressed Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine, 

material that is generated from thinning overstocked 

stands in the forest. In the past, this thinning material would probably be burned or chipped for use in 

pulp mills. However, Jim’s company has successfully shown that suppressed Douglas-fir can be 

made into high-quality wood flooring, and the ponderosa pine works well for specialty wood items. 

In September 2002, Jefferson State Forest Products 

moved from their 3,000-square-foot shop at the fair 

grounds into a recently completed 10,000-squarefoot building. This facility, called the Trinity 

County Business Incubator, was built through 

grants and with local and regional partners through 

the WTRC. Jefferson State Forest Products is 

WTRC’s first tenant. Waste wood produced from 

the Jefferson State Forest Products manufacturing 

plant is burned to heat the entire Incubator facility. 

The Business Incubator is helping to “share the 

risk.” In other words, WTRC is able to provide a 

lease, office equipment, appropriate power sources, 
32

and other services to new businesses at a much 

lower cost than if each individual business were to 

purchase these items. The Incubator will make it 

easier for businesses to get started, and it will encourage new forest-related businesses in Trinity 

County. 

Jefferson State Forest Products purchases most of 

its wood resource, western hardwoods, from southern Oregon. Jim says he does this only because he 

can’t depend on a wood supply from the National 

Forests in Trinity County. 

Jim and Greg have had to train every person that 

works for them. Jefferson State Forest Products 

started with a $25,000 investment and two employees. Since its first year, business income has increased more than 350% and the staff has increased 

to 20 full-time and about 3 part-time employees, all 

from the local community. 

The Watershed Research and Training Center 

(WRTC), with a staff of 15 to 18, helps to develop 

the capital and economic infrastructure necessary to 

build a healthy forest and a healthy community. 

WRTC has become a model for other community 

forestry programs across the country. During the 

past 6 years, WRTC has helped develop a skilled 

workforce and has contributed $750,000 to 

$1,000,000 each year to the local economy. The 

following is only a small sampling of WRTC 

activities:

x Provides training for dislocated workers for new 

jobs in areas such as fire hazard reduction, erosion control, and wildlife habitat restoration 

x Educates and employs local workers in advanced 

field skills, government contracting practices, 

and forest survey and management techniques 

x Tests markets for small-diameter wood and explores markets for small-diameter roundwood 

x Promotes projects that foster good land stewardship while providing living wage, career-based 

jobs for local workers 

x Works with harvesters and land managers to 

identify and survey species being harvested and 

develops sustainable harvest guidelines for their 

area

x Sponsors numerous workshops and field trips to 

share information and build cooperation 

x Tracks the social and economic health of the 

communities in Trinity County 

x Supplies community-based self-help activities by 

providing meeting space, photocopying, materials, labor, staff support, and fiscal sponsorship 

x Purchases machinery, equipment, and facilities 

to make it easier for businesses to get started and 

to encourage new forest-related businesses 

Jim mentioned that another example of “sharing the 

risk” is the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in 

Madison, Wisconsin. Jim feels that “the most positive thing that the Federal government has done for 

small, rural communities is to give us access to the 

FPL.” Following are some of the ways that FPL 

resources have helped both Jefferson State Forest 

Products and WRTC: 

x Evaluated a new preservative system that is environmentally friendly and could be used for grape 

stakes, opening up a new market for post & pole 

operations

x Provided technical assistance on drying Douglasfir for flooring products and steaming madrone 

for furniture products, thus improving utilization, 

reducing processing costs, and increasing profitability 

x Showcased small-diameter Douglas-fir products 

made by Jefferson State Forest Products in the 

FPL Research Demonstration House and provided information to visitors on the benefits of 

buying products made from small-diameter 

material 

x Developed low-cost log sorting equipment that 

sorts logs by diameter and length, helping to improve the bottom line
33

x Provided engineering plans for building a smalldiameter pole and lumber air-drying shed 

x Developed engineering plans for a pedestrian 

bridge that will be located in the Hayfork community 

Jim said, “With FPL’s help, it drastically shortens 

our process of problem solving.” 

Jim and Lynn are also actively involved in several 

organizations that promote socially responsible use 

of natural resources. WRTC is a co-founder of The 

Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities¥ Partnership, which is a rural community collaborative for 

using the by-products of ecosystem management 

and forest restoration. Jefferson State Forest Products is also a member of the Northwest Wood Products Association, an organization of secondary 

wood products manufacturers that helps firms grow 

and become more profitable; and Sustainable 

Northwest, a private nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting environmentally sound economic development in the Pacific Northwest. 

Not all the problems have been solved for the 

community of Hayfork. Lynn says, “Despite the 

numerous activities of the WRTC and its partners, 

Hayfork residents are still struggling. We realize 

that forest-based livelihoods will not solve all the 

economic and social problems of towns such as 

Hayfork. However, this approach can be a viable 

form of economic development because it builds on 

the existing talents and resources found in forest 

communities.” 

After visiting this community and experiencing 

their accomplishments firsthand, I would assert that 

with the leadership and assistance of Jim and Lynn 

Jungwirth, the probability for the residents of Hayfork to succeed at improving the health of their 

economy and the health of their forests has increased immeasurably. 

Contact Information 

Watershed Research & Training Center 

Hayfork, CA 

530-628-4206 

www.thewatershedcenter.org

Jefferson State Products 

Hayfork, CA 

530-628-1101 

www.jeffersonstateproducts.com