Take a hint from our Northern Neighbors!
Christy Clark pulled a rabbit out of a hat according to many political pundits when she was re-elected B.C. Premier in May. I think her focus and message on job creation won the day for her in a surprising victory for the Liberal Party. Her new cabinet will continue to focus on creating jobs and […]
Another One Bites the Dust…
We all received the terrible news this morning that Rough & Ready Lumber Company in Cave Junction, Oregon, was closing its doors after 90 years of doing business. They are unable to secure a sufficient supply of logs from the surrounding Federal forests to remain competitive. This is a family-owned company run by Jennifer and Linc […]
Hampton “Roots”
February 10th marked the birthday of the man who modestly built our company to what it is today. Not a day passes that I am not reminded of how grateful I am for the culture that John Hampton instilled in the way we conduct business. He brought his own personal morals, convictions, and work ethic […]
The Way Forward…
What a breath of fresh air. I didn’t misplace my love for lumber, sawmills, and the smell of sawdust: It just seems like for the last six years we have been getting nothing but bad news. The daily grind has been all about not enough logs, radical environmental lawsuits, a poor economy with zip for […]
A New Year’s Message
Incomprehensible acts of violence leaving families traumatized and heightening our questions about gun control and mental health care… the fiscal cliff and inaction by the politicians who represent us… it’s hard to hold your head up in the aftermath of these headline events. Can these and other dark events that usher us out of 2012 […]
Kudos to Kitzhaber!
Last month Oregon Governor Kitzhaber took two significant actions directly targeted at improving conditions for the forest products sector. This is meritorious in that the forest products industry has been generally left to its own devices over the last few Oregon administrations — just a sunset industry with an inherent controversial raw materials base. Not […]
Promoting Oregon – Governor’s Business Mission to Asia 2012
It was a privilege to be included in Oregon Governor Kitzhaber’s business development mission to Asia last month. The Governor’s two-fold objective for the mission to promote Oregon products and attract investment back into the state took the public-private sector group to China and Japan for ten days. The Governor is an advocate of personal […]
Maybe we are getting somewhere…
For many months, Oregon’s Congressional members, Greg Walden, Peter Defazio, and Kurt Schrader, worked on a solution for the imminent financial crisis facing many rural communities in Oregon that count on revenue generated from timber harvests off of O&C County Trust Lands (BLM) for county services. Most of us in Oregon are familiar with the […]
The “Family” in Family Owned Companies
We are fortunate to have so many family-owned companies in the Pacific Northwest that provide family-wage jobs for their employees. These family-owned companies plan and provide for long-term investments to encourage multi-generation involvement. Investments and multi-generation involvement bode well for the communities in which these businesses are located. Family-owned businesses tend to take pride in […]
Keep Jobs and Logs in Oregon!
The U.S. housing market is starting to pick up, which is good news for our sawmills. Unfortunately, there is a dark cloud looming over the Oregon sawmills. The Port of Newport has applied for and been recommended for Connect Oregon IV (“Connect IV”) funds. These funds come from Oregon tax payers’ and lottery monies – […]
