WHA Member Highlight pg 7December 2024Elecon 2024 pg 5
2Q uote for the Month“Always deliver more than expected.” —Larry Page, co-founder of GoogleOutlookSources on the West Coast report that their markets are steady, but slower than they would like.A lumber representave in Oregon lumber says the market is slow but fair and showing improvement compared to six months ago. The growth is aributed partly to strong demand in the upper-grade Maple segment. The company supplies furniture, cabinet, and millwork manufacturers, as well as distributors, with exports to Europe and Asia. Customers largely maintain steady order volumes, ensuring consistent acvity in their operaons despite broader market challenges. In California, the hardwood market remains steady but cauous, with sales primarily on an order-to-order basis. Customers are hesitant to commit long-term, buying only as immediate needs arise, reecng ongoing uncertaines and economic challenges. Another lumber provider In this issue:* Upcoming Events* Quote for the Month* Outlook* Manager Update* Hardwood Federaon Update* Member Highlight* News* MovaonNo. 669December 2024WHA Board of Directors - OcersTeana Larson PresidentLouie Guyee Vice PresidentVernadel Peterson TreasurerAaron Blumenkron Immediate Past PresidentWHA Board of Directors - Board MembersSco ClarkAdam DupliseaMarlin LangworthySco LeavengoodMike LipkeBrad MichaelRyan PetersonDennis SandersDavid SweitzerSecretary/ManagerPO Box 1894Bale Ground, WA 98604Ph: (360) 835-1600Web: www.westernhardwood.orgEmail: wha@westernhardwood.orgUpcoming Events December 4, 2024WHA Board of Directors Meetingwha@westernhardwood.org
3reports a slightly weaker market than six months ago, impacted by high interest rates slowing home buying and remodeling. Customers are also experiencing slower sales. Manager's MomentsDave SweitzerSecretary/Manager, WHA The Christmas season is upon us, and excitement is in the air! While you don’t ancipate gis of Gold, Frankincense, or Myrrh, you would absolutely welcome inquiries, sales, and deliveries. This is the season when businesses are tying the bow on 2025 plans, and the WHA is no excepon. Next year marks our monumental 70th anniversary, and we’re gearing up for a breakout year!Big things are on the horizon for the WHA in 2025: z Networking and Educaon: We are craing a lineup of events to make this year the best in seven decades. Prepare for unparalleled opportunies to connect, learn, and grow. z Advocacy with Impact: The Government Aairs Commiee is hard at work tackling crical issues, from inuencing log supply to increasing carbon storage, boosng both domesc and internaonal opportunies for members. z Empowering the Future: Our internship program connues to build bridges between forestry students and member companies. These students not only gain invaluable experience but also have opportunies to win WHA scholarships and showcase their skills through innovave furniture design compeons for trophies and cash prizes. z Securing Sustainability: The Revenue Streams Commiee is exploring bold new ways to fund WHA’s growth and impact. z Sharing Our Story: Through dynamic social media, we’re spotlighng the incredible partnership between hardwoods and environmental stewardship in building stronger, healthier communies. How can you help power WHA into this milestone year? FFRenew your membership dues by January 1, 2025 (invoices are in the mail) to stay in good standing. FF Get involved! Join one of our many iniaves or commiees to lend your passion and experse. One quick call to the oce, and you’re part of the acon! Together, let’s make 2025 a year to remember—our best yet in WHA’s 70-year history! Patrick Lumber CompanyOver 100 Years in Business---- Est 1915 ----Products:Doug FirWestern Red Cedar Southern Yellow Pine Western Hemlock Alaskan Yellow Cedar West Coast Softwoods West Coast HardwoodsServices:Remanufacturing Packaging & Transport Consultation Procurement33415 Noon Rd. Philomath, OR 97370503-222-9671sales@patlbr.comFollow us on Instagram @Patricklumberpatlbr.comPatrick Lumber Company is a secondary manufacturer and exporter of niche high-grade woodproducts sold to a network of worldwide distribution.
4Safety Stor ageEffici ency Enhance the Safety, Capacity & Efficiency of your Storage FacilityManage your hardwood safely, more producively, and using less space with Combilit’s materials handling soluionsOur range of electric forklits combine powerful mulidirecional performance, emission free operaion and a host of up to the minute technologies to ofer the most eicient way to handle long loads.Contact Us TodayTToo ffiinndd oouutt hhooww CCoommbbiilliifftt ccaann hheellpp yyoouu ssaaffeellyy aanndd eeffffiicciieennttllyy llooaadd ccoonnttaaiinneerrss iinn 66 mmiinnuutteess..combilift.comHardwood Amanda 7.5x4.875.indd 1Hardwood Amanda 7.5x4.875.indd 1 22/08/2022 16:47:2922/08/2022 16:47:29
5Update from Hardwood FederaonDana Cole, Execuve DirectorDecember 2024Elecon 2024: Public opinion polling on the state of the Presidenal race consistently showed for months that November 5, 2025, would be a nail biter. In fact, commentators and polical experts were forecasng that we would not see nal Presidenal results unl days aer the elecon. This, thankfully, turned out not to be the case. In one of our last team meengs before elecon day, Hardwood Federaon sta discussed the fact that it is not uncommon in these close contests that the results break hard in one candidate’s direcon. That turned out to be true on elecon night. It was prey clear early in the evening that the Trump/Vance cket was going to hold swing states that were on the margin (Georgia and North Carolina) and prevail in key balegrounds like Pennsylvania. In the end, President-elect Trump captured all seven baleground states, secured 312 Electoral votes—needing only 270—and won the popular vote. He will be sworn in January 20. As expected, the GOP regained control of the U.S. Senate with 53 seats in the 100-seat chamber, picking up seats in West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Montana. Democrats won several ght races and will have 47 seats in the Minority. For the rst me in 17 years, Senate Republicans selected a new leader, as Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stepped aside. McConnell deputy John Thune (R-SD) will take over as Majority Leader in January; Democrac Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will retain his role as minority leader in 2025. Control of the House of Representaves has been tricky to call. At press me, Republicans hold a very slim majority, although this could be impacted as President-Elect Trump lls out his Administraon; several House members have already been tapped. The House caucuses will connue with current Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and current Minority Leader Hakeem Jeries (D-NY) connuing to lead their pares. As the Hardwood Federaon looks to next year with a new Congress and a new Administraon, we intend to remain laser focused on our key federal public policy priories. These include: y The Farm Bill: Assuming reauthorizaon is not realized in the 2024 Lame Duck Session, producing a Farm Bill will be job one. The HF Team will advocate for a bill that doubles, or at least maintains, funding for export promoon programs that our sector relies on to open up and sustain overseas markets for U.S. hardwood products. Other areas of focus include grant programs to promote wood markets,
6SIMPLY BETTERSAWMILL SCANNINGJS-50X6BNEWCARRIAGES & SHORT-INFEEDEDGERS
7as well as forest management reform provisions and language direcng the Execuve Branch to accept forest-based biomass energy as “carbon neutral” in their policymaking. y Tax: Restoring key business tax benets that have been allowed to lapse or begin phasing out, including 100 percent bonus depreciaon and the research and development tax credit, as well as extending the 20 percent tax deducons for pass throughs that expires at the end of 2025. y Biomass: In addion to our Farm Bill advocacy on biomass, reauthorizing our biomass carbon neutrality appropriaons rider and educang incoming EPA ocials about the carbon neutral nature of forest biomass energy. One area of concern with the incoming Administraon is its campaign rhetoric around taris. While some industry sectors beneted from taris on compeng materials, including ooring, the retaliatory taris imposed by China on lumber and log exports during the rst Trump Administraon were devastang for much of the industry. The Federaon intends to ramp-up our educaon eorts in the coming weeks to ensure that policymakers understand that overreliance on taris will have profound unintended consequences and should be used with taccal precision, not only for our sector but any grower or employer that relies on export markets. As with every elecon, there will be many new faces in the House and Senate in the 119th Congress. The Federaon team is preparing materials now that will be useful in our introductory meengs with these ocials aer they are sworn into oce in January. We will also move to schedule our annual Fly-In to DC as soon as possible. We hope many of our industry leaders will join us in our eorts to advocate for pro-hardwood policies.Each new Administraon and Congress presents its own set of challenges and opportunies. While some are clear today, others will emerge as the new players take their seats at the table. We look forward to the work ahead.Member NewsSeason’s Greengs from Sawmill Scanner Land! Lile Golden BoxesYou have likely seen them around. In a sawmill, or at a wood products trade show. Maybe on the cover of the latest issue of Timber Processing magazine. Those lile golden boxes hanging above the sawline, shoong lasers towards the logs and boards as they pass underneath. You might even recognize the brand name or the tag line: JoeScan, Made for Sawmills. But what are they? And what are they doing?The lile gold boxes are 3D laser scanners made by a company in Vancouver, Washington named JoeScan. JoeScan has always made 3D laser scanners, specically for sawmills. That’s all they do, since they rst got started in 2002. Lots of people refer to these scanners themselves as “JoeScans”. But what does a JoeScan do for a sawmill?What Do They Do?JoeScans, and other 3D laser scanners, perform a task known as “geometric proling”. This is a fancy way of saying that they measure the size and shape of wood as it moves through a mill. Scanners take measurements before each machine center making cuts, or just on a few machine centers. These measurements are fed to a computer running opmizaon soware. This soware gures out the best way to break down the parcular piece of wood, so that the sawmill can make the most money from the nal products that roll o the line. This can mean improvements to the nal grade of the lumber, or even improving recovery by squeezing more boards out of each log.Wood treatment plant manufacturing, worldwide since 1983.The most environmentally friendly wood treatment ever known!Hydro-Thermo Modication 1-877-785-0274 www.americanwoodtechnology.comAmerican Wood Technology AWT Options: design, fabrication, layouts & accessories• Smallest footprint & simplest installation• Most gentle process available• Most eective heat transfer• Fastest process time & better product quality• Lowest processing cost per board footOur thermo plant designs provide:JoeScan founder & president Joey Nelson and VP of Operaons Jackie McGeehan welcome visitors to the new JoeScan world headquarters
8Since 1907 The Pacific Northwest’s Complete Hardwood Resource
9In many cases the opmizaon soware can communicate directly with a PLC that controls the placement of the sawblades. In other cases it may inform an operator about the best cuts to make, verify that the cuts already made are where the mill thinks they were, or even kick out pieces that are too big to t in the machinery downstream.So to answer our original queson, what do they do? We can say that JoeScans help sawmills improve recovery, grade, and protability by delivering accurate measurements. They can also help to increase throughput by automang saws that were once manually operated.How Do You Get Them?That sounds great! Can I order some JoeScans for my sawmill? Well, not quite. JoeScan only makes the scanner hardware, and that won’t get you very far on its own. To get JoeScans in your mill, you’ll need to work with one of their opmizaon partners. These companies create the opmizaon soware to make cung decisions. They also perform the installaon and integraon of these scanning & opmizaon systems into your exisng machine centers, or into new equipment. Most mills will get their JoeScans as part of an opmizaon package. A full list of JoeScan’s opmizaon and integraon partners can be found at: hps://joescan.com/people/partners/#integratorsFor JoeScan, being a member of the WHA represents an opportunity to provide its members with cung-edge tools that align with the associaon’s goals of advancing industry standards and promong responsible resource management. JoeScan's soluons can support WHA’s iniaves by opmizing operaons and demonstrang the associaon’s commitment to innovaon and sustainability in the hardwood sector helping members stay compeve, enhance operaonal eciency, and contribute to a stronger, more sustainable hardwood industry.Brad Michael, JoeScan team member and WHA Board member, says what they "love about being involved with WHA is all the personal connecons we get to make with other people in the industry."NewsFlash PMI signals manufacturing acvity is sll contracng: The S&P Global Flash U.S. Manufacturing PMI rose slightly to 48.8 in November. Although producon fell sharply, all other PMI components moved higher, and manufacturing opmism struck a 31-month high.What it means: Business condions deteriorated for the h consecuve month, primarily driven by a drop in producon, but at the slowest rate since July. Meanwhile, respondents see the incoming administraon as more business friendly, boosng opmism. - excerpted from “NAM-Weekly Economic Report - November 25, 2024”| NAM. Naonal Associaon of Manufacturers.: n. pag.Price increases speed back up: Following a 2.4% over-the-year increase in September, consumer prices rose 0.2% over the month and 2.6% over the year in October. Meanwhile, wholesale prices increased 0.2% over the month and 2.4% over the year in October, aer rising 1.9% over the year in September.Why it maers: Aer cuts in the Federal Open Market Commiee’s interest rate target at its September and November meengs, the prospect of another 25-basis-point cut at the meeng next month is looking slimmer. - excerpted from “NAM-Weekly Economic Report - November 18, 2024”| NAM. Naonal Associaon of Manufacturers.: n. pag.Manufacturing connues to show weakness globally: The J.P. Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI contracted for the fourth consecuve month, but at a slower pace than September. Output stabilized, rising slightly into growth territory, but supply chain challenges lengthened supplier delivery mes.Why it maers: The contracon is not limited to manufacturers in the U.S. On the bright side, the slowing of the rate of contracon reects improving condions in China, the U.S. and the Eurozone. - excerpted from “NAM-Weekly JoeScan JS-50 X6Bs scan a log on the carriage at NWH LongviewThis opmizaon soware from Nelson Bros Engineering determines the best cuts to make with the bucking saw based on the diameter and crook of the logs.
10Economic Report - November 12, 2024”| NAM. Naonal Associaon of Manufacturers.: n. pag.Boeing strike and hurricanes make an impact: Nonfarm payroll employment increased by a measly 12,000 in October, which was aected negavely by Hurricanes Helene and Milton and strike acvity, while manufacturing employment fell by a more signicant 46,000.Why it maers: The signicant drop in manufacturing employment, weighed down primarily by the Boeing strike, will also impact the headline employment number in November if a deal is not agreed upon soon. - excerpted from “NAM-Weekly Economic Report - November 4, 2024”| NAM. Naonal Associaon of Manufacturers.: n. pag.California leaders are bracing for a clash with President-elect Donald Trump on most environmental issues when he returns to the White House, but they’re surprisingly aligned with him on forest management. Since his rst term as president, Trump has blamed the state for its devastang wildres, telling leaders to thin out its forest and clear out the forest oors to lower risk. Research shows he wasn’t enrely o base. Decades of re suppression have California le forests overgrown, making them more vulnerable to severe wildres intensied by climate change. In 2020, the state ramped up eorts to thin forests, seng a goal of treang one million acres of forest land a year. Now it may even support a controversial mber-based energy industry that’s backed by Project 2025, the conservave federal policy blueprint. About 15 million of California’s 33 million acres of forest land need to be thinned or burned to become healthy and more resilient to wildres, according to the US Forest Service. Read moreSome industries have their roots so deep in rural America that the impacts you see are but a fracon of their full eect. The hardwood forest products industry plays several roles in small-town America, providing good paying jobs, nurturing healthy communies and preserving cultural tradions. It is also essenal for conserving nature and wildlife, which brings tourism revenue to the country’s rural and remote areas. Dunn County, in heavily wooded northwestern Wisconsin, is a perfect example. “What would the community be without the sawmill? A lot of us put our lives into it,” wonders a longme operaons manager for a Midwestern hardwood lumber company. He takes the long view. “Think of it as a garden. We’ve spent 150 years plucking all the weeds, and have it prisne.” The Company’s “garden” is managed as a legacy crop that connects generaon to generaon, and nurtures its workers and communies in an area that otherwise lacks much industry or opportunity. - Hardwoods and our rural communies. NWH Hardwood Lumber Manufacturing & Distribuon. (2024, November 18). hps://nwh.com/hardwood-blog/for-our-communies/U.S. ocials would allow increased logging on federal lands across the Pacic Northwest in the name of ghng wildres and boosng rural economies under proposed changes to a sweeping forest management plan that’s been in place for three decades. The U.S. Forest Service proposal, released Friday, would overhaul the Northwest Forest Plan that governs about 38,000 square miles (99,000 square kilometers) in Oregon, Washington and California. The plan was adopted in 1994 under President Bill Clinton amid pressure to curb destrucve logging pracces that resulted in widespread clearcuts and destroyed habitat used by spoed owls. Timber harvests dropped dramacally in subsequent years, spurring polical backlash. READ MOREOregon has been allocated more than $5 million in federal funding to prevent increasingly frequent and severe wildres that threaten homes, businesses, and “our way of life,” Senator Je Merkley announced yesterday (Thursday). The $5,416,405 allocaon will reduce wildre risks and has been divided into eight projects across the state funded by the U.S. Forest Services. Hundreds of thousands of tons of hazardous fuels will be removed from naonal forests and grasslands and moved to wood and energy producon facilies, says Merkley in a joint statement with Oregon senator Ron Wyden. McNamara, L. (2024, November 15). Removal of hazardous fuels from Naonal Forests will help safeguard Oregon against wildres. Daily Tidings. hps://www.dailydings.com/removal-
1145 Years Leading Dry Kiln Efciency!kilnsales@nyle.com (800) 777-6953Hardwood Industries, Inc.www.hardwoodind.com“Partners in Success since 1981”Next Generation Distribution
12of-hazardous-fuels-from-naonal-forests-will-help-safeguard-oregon-against-wildres/The bale over the proper management of the forested resources in the United States has been going on for over 65 years with no resoluon in sight. Our society is now paying the price with increased forest re acvity, increased insect and disease issues and other indicators of the decline in the overall health of our forest resource. It is essenal that we come to a consensus as to the appropriate manner in which to actually address this complex issue. To start, we need to mine down to the facts so we can have a solid foundaon for a reasonable discussion. One of our fundamental problems is that so much of the public’s percepon of the state of this resource is simply not correct. - Healy, D. (2024, November 21). Don Healy: The Forest Management Conundrum in the United States. Healthy Forests, Healthy Communies. hps://healthyforests.org/2024/11/don-healy-the-forest-management-conundrum-in-the-united-states/While California summers may be hoer and dryer in recent years, that isn’t the primary reason our forests are stressed and burning. Thanks to a century of increasingly eecve wildre suppression combined with a mber industry nearly regulated out of existence, California’s trees now have 5 to 10 mes more than a historically normal density. They’re compeng for an insucient share of light, water and nutrients, leading to disease, infestaons, dehydraon and death. Up through the 1980s California harvested 6 billion board feet per year of mber; the annual harvest is now 25 percent of that. We have turned our forests into nderboxes, and that is the reason res turn into superres. Reviving the mber industry and reviving controlled burns is the soluon. Done responsibly, there is even evidence this will actually help wildlife including endangered species. - READ MOREMovateWhat I Believe About Success by John MaxwellWhen will you be successful? If you’re like most people, what comes to mind is someday—somewhere o in the future, when you’ll suddenly wake up and think, “I made it! I’m a success!” That’s how most unsuccessful people see success: as something to strive for and hope to reach “someday.”Each of us has a picture in mind of what we want our career to look like, our family to look like, and yes, from an early age we oen conjure up images of the houses, cars, and things we would like to obtain. In many persons’ minds, success is something way o in the distance that they will run themselves ragged to get to – if they ever get to it at all.At one me, I viewed success as a place where I would arrive. I dened it as the progressive realizaon
13of a predetermined, worthwhile goal. But over me, I realized that the denion falls short of the mark. It leads to “desnaon disease” – the belief that if we just arrive somewhere (e.g. aain a posion, accomplish a goal, have a relaonship with the right person), we will be successful.But many years ago, I came to a dierent conclusion about success. All the tradional denions either made success a desnaon to reach, or required some magic formula to obtain. I began to see success as a journey, an ongoing process of growth. And aer over nearly y years of knowing successful people and studying the subject, this is the denion of success that I now embrace:Success is…Knowing your purpose in life,Growing to reach your maximum potenal, andSowing seeds that benet others.You can see by this denion why success is a journey rather than a desnaon. No maer how long you live or what you decide to do in life, you will never exhaust your capacity to grow toward your potenal, nor will you run out of opportunies to help others. When you see success as a journey, then you never have the problem of trying to “arrive” at an elusive nal desnaon. And you’ll never nd yourself in a posion where you’ve accomplished some nal goal – only to discover that you’re sll unfullled and searching for something else to do.Another benet of focusing on the journey of success instead of on arriving at a desnaon or achieving a goal is that you have the potenal to become a success today. The very moment that you make the shi to nding your purpose, growing to your potenal, and helping others, successful is something you are right now, not something you vaguely hope one day to be.Let’s talk more about how to pursue each of the three aspects noted above.Knowing Your Purpose: I believe that God created every person for a purpose. As psychologist Viktor Frankl said, “Everyone has his own specic vocaon or mission in life. Everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulllment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus everyone’s task is as unique as his specic opportunity to implement it.” Each of us has a purpose for which we were created. Our responsibility – and our greatest joy – is to idenfy it.Finding our purpose requires us to seek to discover two things: our passion, and our giedness. What is the deep desire set in your heart, the thing that sets your soul on re? What makes you cry? What do you get most excited about? And what are you good at? No one else in the world has exactly the same gis, talents, background, or future that you do.Think about the unique mix of abilies you have, the resources available to you, your own personal history, and the opportunies around you. If you objecvely idenfy these factors and discover the desire of your heart, you will have done a lot toward discovering your purpose in life.Growing to Your Potenal: Novelist H.G. Wells said that wealth, notoriety, place, and power are no measures of success whatsoever. The only true measure of success is the rao between what we might have been and what we have become. In other words, success comes as the result of growing to our potenal. It’s been said that our potenal is God’s gi to us, and what we do with it is our gi to him.We have nearly limitless potenal, yet few ever try to reach it. Why? The answer lies in this: We can do anything, but we can’t do everything. Many people let everyone around them decide what their agenda is in life. As a result, they never really dedicate themselves to their purpose in life. They become a jack of all trades, master of none–rather than a jack of few trades, focused on one.Reaching your potenal requires focus. That’s why it’s so important for you to discover your purpose. Commitment to connual improvement is also key. Each day you can become a lile bit beer than you were yesterday.Forget the past and focus on the future. That’s where your potenal lies, ahead of you – no maer whether you’re eight, eighteen, forty-eight, or eighty. You sll have room to improve yourself. You can become beer tomorrow than you are today. As the Spanish proverb says, “He who does not look ahead remains behind.”Sowing Seeds That Benet Others: When you know your purpose in life and are growing to reach your maximum potenal, you’re well on your way to being a success. But there’s one more important part to the success journey: helping others. Without that aspect, the journey can be a lonely and shallow experience.Helping others is something you can do right here, right now, whether it’s spending more me with your family, developing an employee who shows potenal, helping people in the community, or simply pung your own desires on hold for the sake of your team at work. The key is to link your purpose with your desire to help others.Entertainer Danny Thomas said, “All of us are born for a reason, but all of us don’t discover why. Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It’s what you do for others.”The success journey will not look the same for everyone, because the picture of success is dierent for every person. What doesn’t change are the principles used to take the journey. They can be applied at home, in school, at the oce, on the ball eld, and in church. It doesn’t maer where you are now. You can learn and apply these ideas. You can be successful today. Maxwell, J. (2014, March 5). What I believe about success. John Maxwell. hps://www.johnmaxwell.com/blog/what-i-believe-about-success/