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April 7, 2017 CapitalPress.com 11 Oregon ‘Mass timber’ in state’s future, speaker predicts By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press PORTLAND — Speakers at the Oregon Mass Timber Summit acknowledged some hangups, but said they’re still optimistic using fabricated wooden panels in tall buildings can revitalize the state’s timber industry and restore jobs in ru- ral areas. Valerie Johnson, whose D.R. Johnson Lumber Co. in Riddle, Ore., was the first to make cross laminated timbers certified for tall construction, said the state is still having “intense” harvest management discussions. “But if there’s a way to create more jobs with the same log supply, why don’t Eric Mortenson/Capital Press Valerie Johnson, co-owner of D.R. Johnson Lumber Co. in Riddle, Ore., says the state should be the center of producing cross-lami- nated timbers for use in building tall wooden buildings. we get on about that?” she said. The March 27 summit in Portland focused on the Oregon industry and served as a prelude to the International Mass Tim- ber Conference held in Portland later in the week. In September 2015, D.R. Johnson became the first Amer- ican company certified to make cross-laminated timber panels. Certification by the American Plywood Association and the American National Standards Institute assures the panels, called CLT, can be used in building construction. Johnson said the company she and her sister, Jodi West- brooks, co-own is working to supply multiple tall wood con- struction projects, including half a dozen schools in Wash- ington. The city of Springfield, Ore., once home to major wood products companies, will build a parking garage made from wood. Oregon regulators approve permit for 30,000-head dairy By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau SALEM — State regula- tors on March 31 approved a wastewater permit for a hotly debated expansion of a large dairy farm in Boardman. The Lost Valley Farm, on about 7,000 acres formerly be- longing to the Boardman Tree Farm, is now due to start op- erating in the coming weeks. It’s a project of Greg te Velde, the owner of the nearby me- ga-dairy Willow Creek Farm, whose cows supply milk to local processors. The proposed expansion drew criticism from environ- mental and animal-welfare groups, and state agencies say they have taken additional steps to address them. Lost Valley Farm will be allowed to have up to 30,000 cows under a permit designat- ed for confined animal feed- ing operations, or CAFOs, according to the Oregon De- partment of Agriculture and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The permit issued Friday is intended to protect surface and groundwater from con- tamination, officials say. Leah Feldon, deputy di- rector of the Department of Environmental Quality, said Friday that the department had done “extensive review and work” on the permit over the past year. The departments say Lost Valley Farm will also be re- quired to closely monitor its groundwater, soil and leak de- tection in areas where animal waste is stored. There will be 11 groundwater monitoring wells on the site. The state also says that the only nearby surface water is a canal at a higher elevation than the farm, which would make it “improbable” that the farm’s wastewater or storm- water would end up there. Further, they say, the entire property is in a depression. Large dairies such as Lost Valley Farm are typically sub- ject to inspection by the state Department of Agriculture three or four times a year. Lost Valley Farm expects to start with 16,500 cattle in the first year and gradually build the herd over several years, according to ODA and DEQ. Although state regulators say it was not a factor in the permit decision, the state also touts the expected economic value of the project, which the dairy estimates will provide more than 100 jobs. The farm also says that it will recycle about 75 percent of the water it uses. In a state- ment, te Velde said the farm agreed to all the requirements of the permit and remained “committed to protecting the quality and quantity of groundwater in the critical groundwater area.” The proposed dairy is locat- ed in the Umatilla Groundwa- ter Management Area, which has elevated levels of nitrates. The state’s water resources department is currently pro- cessing the dairy’s water use applications; an appeal period ends April 7. E.J. Harris/EO Media Group Twin carousels simultaneously milk 80 cows on each side while slowly revolving in the milking parlor at the Columbia River Dairy outside Boardman, Ore. Last week Oregon regulators granted Lost Valley Farm, another mega-dairy near Boardman, a wastewater permit. The dairy currently has a temporary permit until April 30, which allows 450 gallons per minute of water for con- struction. Through a water rights transfer, the farm is requesting 1,037 acre-feet of water per year. Officials said Friday that the state received a protest filed by the Crag Law Cen- ter on behalf of a coalition of environmental groups that op- pose the transfer and called the operation a “major threat” to water and air quality. The permit does not reg- ulate air quality, which was a concern raised by environ- mental groups and by a group representing small and mid- size farms. Lost Valley Farm plans to build and use a methane di- gester in two to three years, if it is “economically feasible.” A bill currently before the Oregon Legislature would re- quire the state’s Environmen- tal Quality Commission to adopt a program regulating air contaminant emissions from confined animal feeding oper- ations such as Lost Valley. Ivan Maluski, of Friends of Family Farmers, called the decision by state regulators “disappointing but not unex- pected.” Maluski argues that large dairies like Lost Valley push small and mid-size dairy farms out of business, and points to a 2013 report from the state’s employment department that shows that the number of small dairies in Oregon shrank be- tween 2002 and 2007. Johnson said the estimat- ed market opportunity for cross-laminated timber panels in U.S. construction is $1.5 bil- lion to $4 billion. She said Or- egon is a natural center for the industry. “Well, why not here?” she said. “We’re as smart and hard- working as anybody.” A four-story commercial building under construction in Portland, called Albina Yard, is the first project built with domestically produced CLT panels. Such products now are referred to generically as mass timber construction. Meanwhile, Oregon State University’s College of For- estry and College of Engineer- ing have formed a partnership with the University of Ore- gon’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts. A new facility at OSU, called the TallWood Design Institute, will be the nation’s first research collabo- rative that focuses exclusively on the advancement of struc- tural wood products. Meanwhile, D.R. Johnson may soon have company, or competition, on the produc- tion side of things. In a March 16 opinion piece in the Capi- tal Press, Tyler Freres of Ore- gon-based Freres Lumber said in 2017 the company intends to complete a production facility that can make “ve- neer-based” panels up to 12 feet wide, 48 feet long and 24 inches thick. NORPAC names new CEO By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press Shawn Campbell, a vet- eran of the food processing industry, is the new president and CEO of NORPAC, the venerable Willamette Valley farmers’ coop- erative. C a m p - bell replaces George Smith, who retired af- ter heading the Shawn co-op for more Campbell than a decade and working at the company 38 years. Campbell was hired as NORPAC’s chief operating officer in 2016 as part of a strategic succession plan, and he’s not new to the workings of farmers’ cooperatives. He worked more than 10 years at Darigold, the dairy products co-op, where he was most recently the senior vice presi- dent of consumer products. He also has food brokerage and business development ex- perience in the U.S. and Can- ada. Campbell said he’d been looking for an opportunity to lead an organization when the NORPAC position came open. The co-op has a sol- id foundation, he said, with quality products, reliable sourcing and a hardworking employee base. The co-op model gives independent businesses — farms, in this case — more economic power than they would have by themselves, provides a reliable market for their crops and gives them an op- portunity for governance, he said. Co-op members sit on NORPAC’s board of di- rectors. Campbell agreed con- sumers are familiar with NORPAC’s FLAV-R-PAC brand frozen vegetables and fruit and its Santiam brand canned products, but said peo- ple may be buying NORPAC products without realizing it. The co-op packages under private labels, and its vegeta- bles, soups and chili are used by restaurants, he said. Campbell said most of his background is in sales and marketing and he’ll be look- ing for innovative growth, including new products. He declined to be more specific. “There’s definitely opportuni- ty out there,” he said. 14-4\#04N