Portland, OR, October 18--If you like Oregon's forests -- towering Douglas firs, hemlocks and pines as far as the eye can see -- you need to be worried, very worried, about the effects of cheap foreign wood flooding American markets.
Hal Salwasser of the Oregonian reported that about 37 percent of the softwood lumber used in this country for home construction and remodeling -- the pine, fir, spruce and hemlock we love -- is imported, much of it from Canada.
Soon even more wood will be coming from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and South America. And it won't just be softwood lumber.
But this is good, you say. You're an environmentalist, and this saves our forests from the ax. We can revel in endless stands of trees and still enjoy the wood products -- hardwood flooring, fine cabinetry, abundant paneling and the like -- that contribute so richly to our standard of living.
Well, not so fast.
Almost two-thirds of America's forests are in private ownership, nearly 40 percent here in Oregon. About 80 percent of Oregon's timber harvest now comes from these valuable private lands. But with all the cheap foreign wood competition, what if private owners can't make a profit from their timber? What if they're forced to convert their land to farms, vacation villas or vineyards? Or even sell to investors keen on a quick profit?
That's already happening. Oregon's loggable forests are coming under increasing pressure for subdividing and development. "Who Will Own the Forest?" was the conference topic last month at the World Forestry Center in Portland. Increasingly the answer is out-of-state investors who manage forestlands as investments --retirement and pension funds, for example -- for globally competitive returns. Some but not all are in forestry for the long haul.
Others are simply money managers, and, for now, forestlands are a good investment. Eventually they'll log the trees to pay for their investment and sell their holdings to another set of investors. Trees take time to grow; short-term investors might not be willing to wait. Where's "Made in Oregon"?
Here's an example, in my own Corvallis home, of what Oregon's forest managers and mill operators are up against.
Our new laminated flooring was made in Belgium, and our daughter's furniture in Italy and China. Just three years ago we had to use eastern U.S. hardwoods for our kitchen remodel because Oregon doesn't produce maple panels for cabinets.
These products could have been Made in Oregon, signaling to Oregon forest owners that keeping their trees diverse, productive and environmentally sound is worth it, that money is to be made.
Exactly what will happen to Oregon's private forests as global competition grows? Frankly, we're not sure, but the future might not be good. Some Central Oregon properties already have gone to real estate development. More are on the block.
This summer, Boise, the third-largest owner of commercial forests in Oregon, agreed to sell 635,000 acres in our state to a Chicago investment group. The new company, Boise Cascade LLC, is the creation of a firm that owns, among other things, Ruth's Chris Steak House and a satellite radio company, as The Oregonian's Michael Milstein has reported.
Is Boise Cascade in it for the long haul, committed to growing and harvesting trees with solid investment in future productivity? I hope so, otherwise the new owners could become timber liquidators looking for the first good opportunity to convert trees to cash and pass the land along to the next investor. U.S.-owned trees locked up
Watch what's happening to Crown Pacific's Central Oregon timberlands if you think I'm just making this stuff up. Once one of Portland's fastest growing companies, Crown Pacific recently filed for bankruptcy. The company expects to turn 500,000 acres back to lenders and sell three sawmills to a Canadian company.
