Chapter: Coos Bay
Chapter Communications
November Commissioner race update:
Congratulations to newly elected commissioners are John Sweet and Milissa Cribbins. Bob Main and Fred Messerle are waiting the results of a county recount after the originalresults show that Bob held a 12 vote lead after more than 25,000 votes have been cast! Stay tune!
Upcoming Events
Our December meeting will be held at Shark Bites in downtown Coos Bay on Wednesday, Dec 12th (different day of week & one week earlier) at our regular time 6:00 pm social/6:30 dinner and a movie. We need to know how many people will attend so that we can plan dinner and movie sitting arrangements. Please RSVP Eva Bailey ([email protected]) (541) 751-4499 as soon as possible (no later than December 7th)
If members have suggestions for future meetings, please contact Tristan Huff.
Meeting Minutes
May Meeting Recap
The Coos Chapter meeting began with Bruce Schlaebitz's surprise "logging terminology challenge". His inspiration arose from a book he obtained at a recent garage sale. The book is an apparent treasure trove of terminology from throughout the USA and Canada. Many of the terms we had not heard of as yet. Some of us thought of humorous answers having no idea what the actual answer was while others waited for the answers to be revealed against their own educated guesses.
Dick Heaney was the top winner with 85% correct. Bruce thoughtfully engaged us, gave us hints along the way, and rewarded us withprizes. Thanks Bruce for your creative "ice breaker"! Our program;Forest Product Innovations, What might the future hold?" was presented over the Internet by Scott Leavengood of the Oregon Wood Innovation Center (OWIC) housed at OSU. Scott did a masterful job of explaining, industry trends, new products and processes, and linkages between forest products and forest management. We learned about the impact of the global marketplace on our own timber as wellas what happens to that timber once it is exported. We also learned about "all things bio" from biomass, bioenergy, biofuels, biorefining, biobased products, and the bio-economy. Scott gave some excellent examples of new generation chemicals that are being used to change the wood structure in lumber or to coat it making the lumber more useful. Finally, Scott spoke of how rotation ages have had an impact on milling infrastructure in the US. He suggested if we move toward longer rotation ages that the milling infrastructure might once again change. He also proposed the question, if we are able to implement forest fuel reduction projects on a larger scale what type of industry might emerge to fully utilize these new resources? Will wood quality even matter in the future? What about competition between new industries and established milling infrastructure? These are the concepts that Scott explored in his informative presentation.by: Darren Mahr
March Meeting: Radio Telemetry and Elk
Stuart Love, Wildlife Biologist with ODF&W in Charleston was our guest speaker. He gave us a presentation on their telemetry program that is focused on elk in our local area. It was a very interesting topic.
FebruaryMeeting Recap
Jared Sproul from East Fork Lumber Co. in Norway, OR gave us a very passionate presentation on their small sawmill business. East Fork is primarily focused on specialty and niche products that command a unique price in the market place. The lion’s share of their market is on the east coast. One such example he showed was a boat dock in Cape Cod, MA that was made from "cut to order" lumber. Most of their lumber is manufactured from Douglas-fir and Port-Orford-cedar. Jared gave us many examples of large timbers that were suitable for architectural arches or timber frame construction that can be quickly assembled. Jared also touched on the many difficulties they encounter locating the perfect log for a given order. They use logs cut from older trees so obtaining the right log can be a challenge for them. East Fork uses up to 3 MMBF per year so the total log volume is less of an issue for them compared to production sawmills.
Leadership Directory
2011 Chapter Officers
Chair: Tristan Huff, 541.217.0366
Chair-elect: Scott Nichols
Secretary: Rick Spring (), 541.756.4669
Treasurer: Jim Kirkpatrick
Delegate-at-Large: Ron Ray (), 541.756.1193
Program Chair for Legislative Action: Jim Nielson (), 541.396.3800
Please send articles for the newsletter and/or comments to Estella Morgan (), newsletter editor.
Chapter Documents
Timber Harvest on Federal Forests: A Positive Response to the Expiration of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 (PL 106-393): A position of the Coos Chapter, Oregon Society of American Foresters (OSAF)(pdf)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: To Help Solve The Current Fiscal Crisis in Coos County, the Coos Chapter of the Society of American Foresters Proposes a Balanced Increase in Timber Harvest From Federal Forest Land.
With the expiration of PL 106-393 (Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000), the Coos Chapter of the Oregon Society of American Foresters advocates increased timber harvests on federal forest lands (BLM and USFS) to promote a strong integrated balance of social, economic and environmental values in the management of these lands.
This approach will provide funds needed by counties to support schools, roads and services such as law enforcement. It will emphasize active management to promote forest health and provide the multiple values Congress intended to achieve on federal forests. It will support the local milling and manufacturing infrastructure, provide family wage jobs, and promote long term forest health along with inter generational community stability.
The U.S. is now experiencing very large trade and budget deficits. Increases in timber harvest from federal lands can help reduce the need for importing foreign wood products that contribute to an imbalance in trade. Increasing the timber supply from federal lands can sustain the forest products industry, employment, and favorably affect local economies through the economic multiplier effect, and reduce or eliminate county dependency on federal appropriations and the budget deficit.
To learn more about the Coos Chapter's Position Statement proposing increases in federal timber harvest visit the chapter's web site.
The Society of American Foresters (SAF) is the national scientific and educational organization representing the forestry profession in the United States. Founded in 1900 by Gifford Pinchot, it is the largest professional society for foresters in the world. The mission of the Society of American Foresters is to advance the science, education, technology, and practice of forestry; to enhance the competency of its members; to establish professional excellence; and, to use the knowledge, skills, and conservation ethic of the profession to ensure the continued health and use of forest ecosystems and the present and future availability of forest resources to benefit society.
For further information contact Darren Mahr (), Chapter Chair at or Jim Nielsen (), Chapter Policy Chair.
