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About The Bend bulletin. (Bend, Deschutes County, Or.) 1917-1963 | View Entire Issue (March 28, 1962)
4 Sec. 3 Bend Bulletin, Wd., March 28, 1962 Iff"-" i ' Ponderosa forests provide timber for lumber mills mm s ot .industry its Sec. 3 Bend Bulletin, Wed., March 28, 1962 5 By Phil F. Brogan Bulletin Staff Writer Central Oregon' top industry is sharpening its axe. That industry is lumbering. It is No. 1 in a region bounded by national forests, the Deschutes, Ochoco and Fremont. It is an industry that seasonally employs some 3,500 persons in the three Mid-Oregon counties, Crook, Jefferson and Deschutes, and ad jacent parts of Klamath, Lake and Grant. However, it is an industry In which the dollar dot. not turn as tasily as it did In earlier years. Logging and milling costs are mounting. Price of stumpage is high. Equipment charges are in creasing. New products furnish tough competition. Mill management finds it nec essary to trim costs, or step out of the picture. To make ends meet and provide the necessary margin of profit, new Innova tions are being introduced, new methods adopted, new forest practices tried. In ail these efforts to trim the dollar costs, the great need for accelerated forest research standi out. Research need is accentuated under the sustained yield pro gram: Only a certain amount of timber can be cut annually on a federal forest. It is up to the mill men to make the best of the stumpage available. Incidentally, the sustained yield picture of the 1,587,695-acre Des chutes National Forest is bright.' The allowable cut at present is 136.000,000 board feet. Thirty years from now, and far beyond those three decades, the allowable cut should be the same, foresters say. But in the meantime there will be an increased demand for for est products. Population growth will require doubling timber production be. lore many years, and will great ly accentuate the need for im proved management practices. It will also mean that the en tire tree be utilized wood, bark, fuliage and chemical extractives. This goal is still a long way off research - wise, but, foresters agree, it is coming. While waiting for research to catch up, lumber plant operators in recent years have been at tempting to improve their own ;art of the lumber industry pic ture. One of these modern plants is the big Brooks-Scanlon, Inc., op eration in Bend. Several years ago it modernized its Bend plant at a cost of several million dol lars. This modernization not only in cluded changes in manufacturing, with lumber under one roof from the time a log enters from the mill pond until the product is loaded aboard railroad cars, but salvage of some of the waste of earlier years. This salvage operation includes the shipment of former waste to a pulp plant in Washington. The Bend mill in recent years has also modernized transporta tion. No longer do slow-moving trains run into the Bend mill from distant camps. A system of modern logging roads has been provided. Over these forest routes rolls a fleet of trucks. Also in use in the woods is equipment that would have amai ed loggers of the high-wheel era, and of the days when teams snaked logs out of the hills. New methods have not only re duced costs, but they have ex pedited operations. Logging trucks and roads have made possible the salvage of huge amounts of Umber that would have been lost a decade or so back. Consider the Aspen Butte Are of four years ago: That fire blazed through nearly 20,000 acres of timber. It killed trees holding millions of board feet of lumber. To save that tim ber, quick salvage was necessary. A salvage sale was arranged, the fire-scarred trees were felled and moved to the Tite-Knot plant in Redmond through use of a fleet of trucks. Timber that would have been lost was saved. The economic pic ture of the area was helped.' Machinery developed in recent years has made possible the log ging of areas by-passed in earlier decades because of its Inacces sibility. That timber was not even included in the area's earlier eco nomic picture. What of the future of the lum ber industry in Central Oregon? In some parts of the area there may be some dark spots, but gen- ' erally the future looks good. Research, now gaining strides. Modern processes at work Storage . . . another step in timber business is Hie key to the future. The day is rapidly nearing, tim ber scientists say. when the en tire tree will be utilized. That will include wood, bark, chemical ex tractives and even foliage. Already timbermen are taking an inventory of old stumps cov ering areas logged in earlier years. Those stumps hold resins which are increasing in demand and value as southern sources diminish. A test ef Deschutes resins, stor ed in stumps nearly half a cen tury old In places, was made sev eral years ago. The stumps were harvested just east of Lave Butte south of Hend and shipped to a Klamath Falls pilot plant. Avail able information indicates that the yield of resin from the Des chutes stumps was high. Researchers also recognized the great need for more work on the control of insects and diseases that destroy billions of board feet of limber each year in the west ern states. However, the Umber loss from such sources is not as high as in earlier years: It is now possible quickly to move into a bug-kill area and remove the trees, just as it Is possible to get fire-killed Umber to the mills. Improved access is the factor that makes salvage of bug-killed Umber possible. Forest product research Is not confined to the growing of more timber, Uie full utilization of tim ber now available and the pro tection of Woodlands from insects and fire. Research now Includes work on promotion of wood for new and different structural purposes; In vestigations to find uses of the potentially valuable quarter ton of bark that Is harvested along with each thousand board feet of logs; residue utilization including com position board and pulp, season' ing studies and oUier items. Current Investigation In forest management is concentrated around forest regeneration and new growth management. Near Bend is a pine nursery which seasonally produces mil lions of tiny trees, for use locally and in other forests of the Pacific Northwest. Replanting of burned over areas is being speeded. Central Oregon federal woods are managed jointly for wood, wildlife, water and recreation. AU are vitally important to the area. pro. awuBM . iU a. ew -1 ..J$,il',i' ' -,.4 life. .. wist, . ' it fe, ; t ) Finished products ready for eastern markets Serving The Transportation Heeds of Central Oregon ... Since 1924! We're proud to have been a part of the steady growth of Central Oregon. With this steady growth, Bend-Portland has expanded and modernized their facilities to meet the ever-increasing transportation needs of this thriving area. We have great optimism for the future prosperity of Central Oregon. New industries will be developed . . . while the old ones are being refined. We see an ever increasing variety of materials and products labeled "from Central Oregon" being shipped to ever-expanding markets. The future of Central Oregon is bright, indeed! r CONVENIENT TE IN CENTRAL OH BEND 101 E. Greenwood Ph. EV 2-4221 PRINEVILLE Madras Hwy. Ph. HI 7-6573 REDMOND 1438 S. 6th St. Ph. LI 8-2325 MADRAS Warm Springs Hwy. Ph. 475-2234 BEST possible o truck service RTLAND M i 1 . Do Your Banking WHERE SOT BEND BRANCH 960 Wall St. ! V ' '! 'I I l i p!tyitai i COMES FIRST For 27 Years The First National Bank of Oregon has served the people of Central Oregon with friendliness and sound banking practices. Through the years, we have helped many businesses to grow because of our faith in their enterprise. The First National Bank of Oregon appreciates friends and customers all year long . . . but we would like to take this occasion to endeavor to put that feeling into words. The confidence you have placed in our banks and in our staffs has been a source of pride to all of us. As the great Central Oregon area continues to grow and prosper, you may be as sured that we will strive to offer the very best in banking service In order to merit your continued confidence. Thanks For Banking With Us! We extend a cordial invitation for you to come in any time and meet our friend ly officers and personnel. ci FOR OVER 600,000 OREGON PEOPLE! 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