WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2022 | SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
‘This is
an epic
event’
Lyle Pitley with
Schuyler & Sons
Inc. takes the cable
wraps off a load of
fire salvage timber
at the Seneca
Sawmill Co. in
Eugene.
CHRIS PIETSCH/
THE REGISTER-GUARD
Lumber by
the numbers
$700
Price for 1,000
square feet of
plywood, down
from $2,100 in the
summer of 2021
$24
Current cost for a
4-by-8 sheet of
plywood, down
from $48 last
summer
With rebuilding underway in Oregon fire
zones, price of lumber reaches new highs
Bill Poehler and Adam Duvernay
Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK
There’s no shortage of logs on the highways leaving fire-rav-
aged parts of Oregon like the Santiam Canyon and the McKenzie
River Valley, but residents looking to rebuild will pay top dollar to
see them return as lumber.
A low supply of and high demand for lumber has brought
prices to record highs in recent weeks with expectations that
they will continue to rise. The market swing comes as debris
from the 2020 Labor Day wildfires is being cleared away and sur-
vivors are planning their rebuilds.
About 700 homes were lost in Santiam Canyon cities like Mill
City, Detroit, Lyons and Gates. More than 400 homes in the
McKenzie River Valley burned during that fire, sparked in a La-
bor Day windstorm before spreading over 173,000 acres. It was
just one of the large wildfires to sweep across Oregon that alto-
gether burned an estimated 1 million acres.
Rob Freres, president of Freres Engineered Wood, said raw
wood prices have gone up by a third since the beginning of the
pandemic. That is despite an influx of burned wood to mills.
See LUMBER, Page 2A
Local families
end up paying the price
Whitney Woodworth
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
The child care crisis has left Aja Holland and her
family reeling.
The Salem mother of two discovered after her
daughter was born that it was impossible to find im-
mediate child care for infants.
Because Holland makes more money than her
husband, she went back to work while he requested
more time off until they could find a daycare. He was
fired from his job at Cherriots three days later.
“When his work sent someone to our house to give
him the termination letter, he answered the door
while holding our 2-month-old,” Holland said.
They finally found a childcare opening in May but
then were hit with two more challenges: her husband
being out of work and her older child being unable to
go back to full-time daycare due to staffing shortages.
“I think everyone knows that bringing a new child
into the world can be a pretty stressful time for fam-
ilies and unexpectedly losing your job just makes it
that much more stressful,” Holland said. “But I think
we’re pretty lucky that we can afford to keep the kids
in daycare while he looks for a new job because, for
most families, that wouldn’t even be a possibility.”
Research shows Holland’s family is not alone in
their struggle.
A perfect storm of labor shortages, the pandemic
and an already suffering industry has left both child
care providers and families needing care in upheaval.
Families face often insurmountable hurdles of
long waiting lists, unaffordable costs and frequent
closures while providers struggle to remain in an in-
dustry that often pays minimum wage and sees high
turnover.
See CHILD CARE, Page 4A
Heat rule meant
to protect Oregon
workers takes effect
Shannon Sollitt
$24,000
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Average increase in
the cost of a new
home between
April 2020 and
March 2022
$1,260
Price per 1,000
board feet for
lumber as of
Thursday, up 280%
from the same time
last year
Oregon’s child
care desert
Logs are stacked in the log scaling yard at Freres Enineered
Wood in Lyons on June 9. BRIAN HAYES/SALEM STATESMAN JOURNAL
Opponents challenge permit for
controversial mega-chicken ranch
Tracy Loew
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Opponents of a newly permitted mega chicken
ranch between Jefferson and Scio, set to be the state’s
largest such facility, are asking the state to reconsider
its approval.
On Thursday, Center for Food Safety and a coali-
tion of farmers, ranchers, local residents and public
interest groups filed a petition for reconsideration
with the Oregon Department of Environmental Qual-
ity and Department of Agriculture.
They’re asking the state to either revoke the permit
for J-S Ranch, a contract grower for Foster Farms, or
strengthen its requirements.
The operation, owned by Eric Simon of Browns-
ville, will raise 580,000 broiler chickens at a time, six
times per year, in 11 barns.
“Three and a half million Foster Farms chickens
will threaten our waterways, foul our wells, and harm
existing farms and ranches in our agriculture commu-
nity,” said Kendra Kimbirauskas, a Scio farmer and
one of the organizers of Farmers Against Foster Farms
.
“The permit ODA issued does not adequately pro-
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tect our water and wells from the inevitable pollution
from this mega poultry operation,” Kimbirauskas
said. “Instead, ODA must protect our community,
farms, and water from this incursion of massive Fos-
ter Farms chicken operations.”
ODA will review the petition in consultation with
the Oregon Department of Justice and the Oregon De-
partment of Environmental Quality, ODA communi-
cations director Andrea Cantu-Schomus said.
J-S Ranch, at 37225 Jefferson-Scio Drive, is one of
three large chicken facilities being planned in the
area, drawing concern from neighbors.
A Scio resident has applied for a permit for a similar
facility between Scio and Lyons along Thomas Creek.
And a third is being planned on Porter Road, about a
mile from Stayton.
ODA approved the permit for J-S Ranch on May 26.
It won’t be effective until Simon meets additional con-
ditions, including obtaining a DEQ construction
stormwater permit and a Linn County road access
permit.
Opponents are asking the agencies to stay, or
pause, issuing that final order until a determination is
made on their petition for reconsideration.
A new set of rules meant to protect outdoor work-
ers from extreme heat by requiring employers to pro-
vide mandatory breaks, shade, cold water and train-
ing when the heat index reaches 80 degrees Fahren-
heit took effect Wednesday.
If the heat index gets above 90 degrees Fahren-
heit, additional safety measures kick in.
Oregon OSHA, the state’s worker safety agency,
adopted the rule last month. It was modeled after
emergency rules implemented last summer in the
wake of a deadly heat wave. Sebastian Francisco Pe-
rez, 38, collapsed while working at a nursery in St.
Paul and died June 26, 2021, when temperatures ex-
ceeded 100 degrees. More than 100 people died state-
wide during the heat dome.
OSHA officials have said Oregon’s rules are the
most protective in the United States.
Some farmers who hire agricultural workers are
afraid that protection will come at a cost. But for oth-
ers, the new rules are a bare minimum.
“I don’t feel like we’ve been given the information
or support necessary to understand or comply with
these rules,” said Mary Anne Cooper, vice president
of government affairs for the Oregon Farm Bureau.
“There’s a lot [OSHA] could do to protect workers
from excessive heat that wasn’t this prescriptive.”
Cooper said Farm Bureau members agree extra
heat protections are necessary, but some worry
about the burden of enforcement and training.
Under the new rule, farmers are required to train
their employees about heat illness and prevention
before they can work in environments that might ex-
pose them to extreme heat.
“It’s a lot to ask people to acclimate, to learn within
a month, especially without trained HR profession-
als,” she said.
In March, a coalition of labor unions and advo-
cates asked OSHA for even stronger protections
against heat and smoke.
See HEAT RULE, Page 3A
See PERMIT, Page 2A
Vol. 141, No. 27
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Daniel Quiñones, an outreach worker for migrant
and seasonal farmworkers, shares information
about OSHA rules and heat illness prevention at
Sandy Ridge Berry Farms in Brooks in August 2021.
ABIGAIL DOLLINS / STATESMAN JOURNAL