OCTOBER 2007, AROUND THE STATE
Timber woes
continue in east
EASTERN OREGON
Recent lumber mill closures announced in three eastern Oregon
counties have sucker- punched the region’s economy.
Approximately 198 jobs have dried up with the closings of the
Grant Western mill in John Day and the Wallowa Forest Products
mill, both operated by D.R Johnson, and the Louisiana-Pacific
mill in Hines. State forest officials say that the number of
mills operating in the east this year dropped from 13 to 10,
and the region’s timber harvest declined to historic
lows. Factors include a decline in local timber supplies,
spiking gas prices and falling timber prices.
Those 198 jobs in counties where the total population is about
22,000 is the equivalent of the Portland metro area losing more
than 26,000 jobs, according to state calculations. In Harney
and Grant counties, which already have among the highest
unemployment rates in the state, the loss of well-paying mill
jobs is especially acute. In 2006, Harney’s annual
unemployment rate was 8.2%, and Grant’s was 8.4%; the
state average was 5.4%.
Coupled with fires that are ravaging forests and drought that
is hurting farming and ranching, a coalition of eastern county
officials recently gathered under the rallying cry of
“enough is enough,” says Harney County judge Steve
Grasty. But the issue is longer-lived than just the recent fire
and drought. Grasty says current federal timber policy has
resulted in tinderbox stands of dead trees on federal land,
while mills and jobs suffer. He says the coalition will
advocate for forest practices that are beneficial to both
forests and communities and allow more local timber to be cut.
Some conservation groups oppose more logging in national
forests.
“Our future is somewhere between doing nothing,”
says Grasty, “and doing what we used to
do.”
ROBIN DOUSSARD
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