Timber & Wood Products
Oregon’s Wood Product Manufacturing Industry Is Still Important, Especially in Rural Areas
by Brian Rooney, Regional Economist, Douglas and Lane counties, Oregon Employment Department April 18, 2025 Once Oregon’s largest manufacturing industry, employment in the wood product manufacturing industry has gone through large, well-publicized losses since the early 1990s. Its employment has dropped below that of computer and electronic manufacturing and food manufacturing…
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Prioritizing Safety: Preventing Injuries and Fatalities in the Logging Industry
By Paul Quandt Oregon has long been a leader in the production of softwood lumber and plywood, key materials for home construction. The state produces more than 6.1 billion board feet of lumber annually, making up approximately 16.5% of total U.S. output. Such a prolific industry is not without its risks. The…
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Pacific Northwest semiconductor and mass timber industries each receive $500,000 awards from White House
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University-led efforts focused on microfluidic technology for semiconductors and mass timber design and manufacturing each have received $500,000 awards from the White House. In Oct. 2023, the White House, through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, announced the designation of 31 Tech Hubs(Link is external),…
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Western Cascade is 7th Timber Mill to close in Oregon this year.
Western Cascade Industries, a lumber mill located in Toledo, Oregon, is closing its doors this week. Approximately 50 people will be affected by the closure. The mill’s general manager, Walt Adams, shared that the decision appears to be driven by a downturn in the lumber market and insufficient log supply. Unfortunately, this…
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Oregon’s Forestry and Logging Industry: From Planting to Harvest
Oregon is one of the world’s great tree-growing areas. The state’s soils and climate provide ideal conditions to grow such commercially viable species as Douglas fir and ponderosa pine. Forests cover more than 30 million of Oregon’s 62 million acres – almost half of the state’s landmass. The Oregon Department…
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Merkley, Wyden Sound The Alarm, Urge More Funding To Address Sudden Oak Death
Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today sent a letter to the Bureau of Land Management strongly urging the agency to put funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to go towards the mitigation and treatment of Sudden Oak Death, a disease that poses severe economic…
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The Myth of Bend’s Timber-to-Tourism Transition
by Damon Runberg You may have heard this story before. Bend was a timber town, but after the demise of the timber industry, the regional economy shifted to tourism to replace those timber jobs. The vast ponderosa forests outside of town attracted mills that sustained the town for much of…
Read MorePresidential Proclamation on National Forest Products Week, 2019
Our Nation’s forests and woodlands provide millions of Americans with an abundance of job opportunities, goods, and recreational activities. During National Forest Products Week, we pay tribute to the forest products industry for the important contributions it makes to our society and economy, and we recommit to keeping our wooded…
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What Replaces Timber?
By Josh Lehner Between the mill closure in Coos Bay, downsizing in Forest Grove, and the lively cap and trade discussions, there has been a renewed interest and focus on the timber industry in Oregon. Our office has fielded nearly a dozen requests recently to speak about the industry, historical…
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Smoke Season
For 6 weeks last year, smoke filled most of southern Oregon’s air and for many days we had the worst air quality in the nation. We were told to stay indoors and we downloaded AQI (Air Quality Index) apps that sent us daily alerts and we watched wind shifts…
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Emmerson Lab opens to help bring innovative wood products to market
Emmerson Lab opens to help bring innovative wood products to market On May 14, 2019, the Oregon State University College of Forestry celebrated the grand opening of the A. A. “Red” Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Laboratory. Sierra Pacific Industries, founded by Emmerson and his father, R. H. “Curly” Emmerson, contributed…
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Brews, Brains, and Lumber: Occupations Clustered in Lane County
by Henry Fields Sometimes to understand an economy you need to look at the things that make a place unique. Location quotients (LQ) are a tool that help analysts do just that. LQs compare local employment in one industry or occupation with the nation as a whole. It’s basically like…
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