The latest report on overcoming obstacles to expanding the use of small-diameter timber in Jackson and Josephine counties doesn’t offer a simple solution to the complex problem.
"There’s isn’t going to be a single silver bullet," cautioned co-author Ryan Temple, a member of Sustainable Northwest in Portland, a nonprofit group seeking an answer to the
problem of how to make the harvest of smaller trees financially sustainable.
But he is confident the multi-faceted approach contained in the 95-page study released this week by the Southwest Oregon Resource Conservation & Development Council is a step forward.
Co-authored by fellow Sustainable Northwest member David Schmidt and Greensprings resident George McKinley, the report came up with four production concepts considered to have the most
promise:
An integrated medium- scale swaddling and kiln-drying facility for small-diameter softwoods and hardwoods.
"There are definitely uses for it but it is still a challenge to find something that will pay enough to get it out of the woods," explained Amy Wilson, coordinator for the council based
in Grants Pass. The five-county program was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
She equates small-diameter timber utilization to recycling: It needs to be done but it’s labor intensive with end products that are not that valuable, she said.
"This study focuses on moving it forward," she said of the debate over what to do with the small-diameter material.
"There is a little bit of success on a lot of levels right now but it’s difficult to get the small-diameter material put of the woods in a cost-effective manner," she said.
No one doubts there is an abundance of small-diameter material: A 1999 estimate using satellite imagery estimated the amount growing on the Bureau of Land Management’s Medford District and
the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest at some 6 billion board feet that could be harvested. That included only trees under a foot in diameter.
A National Fire Plan study concluded there are 26 communities in southwestern Oregon, including some 26,000 homes, at risk adjacent to BLM forestlands. That threat is the result of an unnatural
buildup of trees brought about by a century of fire suppression. Expensive thinning projects are planned to ease the risk, but making use of what is harvested would offset the cost.
Small-diameter material is being used locally for lumber, posts and poles, firewood, log furniture, log homes, chipping and as fuel for power plants.
"In terms of our regional capacity to handle small-diameter material, our situation is a lot better than other areas in the West," said McKinley, owner of Mountain Millworks, which
utilizes small material.
Several large mills, including the Swanson Group Inc. mill in Glendale and Boise in White City, have made the transition to use small logs, he said.
But the high harvest cost, high transport cost and low market value remain a problem, he said.
"I think you will see people continue to use what is out there in innovative ways," he predicted. "You will continue to see progress."
Temple agreed.
"I see some incremental progress happening now," he said.
"But an integrated approach is really important," he said. "No single opportunity looks incredibly promising. But looking at it as a coordinated unit, then the bottom line starts
looking fairly promising."
A series of public meetings are planned in the region later this year to discuss the report, although the time and place have yet to be determined.
The report is available via at www.pacrimrcd.org/southwest oregon on the Web.
Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at
pfattig@mailtribune.com.
