Recession hits tree farm sawmill
By David Sykes
The nationwide re
cession has hit home at the
sawmill set up two years
ago to saw logs from the
25,000 acre poplar tree
farm near Boardman. The
mill has cut back from two
shifts and 105 full time
employees to just one shift
with 59 employees, a rep
resentative of the company
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper L ibrary
University o f Oregon
Bugene. OR 97403
HEPPNER
imes
VOL. 129
NO. 47
8 Pages
Wednesday, November 24,2010
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Students take to the hills
Heppner students took advantage of their snow day on November 23, taking their sleds to
Water Street. -Photo by Autumn Morgan
Area pastors invited to submit Christmas messages
The Heppner Gazette-Times invites area pastors to submit Christmas mes
sages to be published in the December 22 edition. The deadline is Friday, December
17, at 5 p.m.
Messages can be dropped off at the Gazette office, emailed to editor@rapid-
serve.net, or faxed to 541-676-9211.
Gazette-Times to close for Thanksgiving
The Heppner Gazette-Times will be closed on Thursday and Friday, Novem
ber 25 and 26, in observance of the Thanksgiving Holiday. The office will re-open on
Monday, November 29, at 9 a.m.
told the Heppner Chamber
of Commerce at its weekly
meeting last Thursday.
Luke Maynard, ir
rigation manager at Green
wood resources, which
operates the tree farm, said
the cutback was neces
sary because of the overall
recession and slowdown
in the economy. The mill
produces mostly boards
for molding, cabinetry and
furniture pieces, much of
it exported to China. He
said in the third quarter of
this year the mill had two
shifts and was operating
full time but then had to cut
back. The mill is capable
of producing 100 million
board feet per year at full
production.
Maynard gave an
overview to Chamber mem
bers of the tree farm, which
was purchased in 2007 from
the Potlatch Corp.
The tree farm ir
rigation system is capable
of pumping 225,000 gallons
of water from the Columbia
River per minute to irri
gate the 23,000 acres near
Boardman and an addi
tional 2,500 acres across the
river in Washington. The
water is delivered through
a complex computerized
irrigation system of canals,
100 pumps and finally into
miles and miles of black
drip irrigation lines. The
hoses are used over and
over and can last up to 25
years, Maynard says. Two
years ago the company up
graded all its intake pipes
to protect fish in the Co
lumbia.
The manmade for
est attracts a multitude of
wildlife including coyote,
deer, porcupine and cougar.
Maynard said there is an
estimated 600 deer on the
property and one section is
set aside for employee and
contractor hunting. He said
some animals, especially
the coyote, like to chew on
the drip lines. The company
has also installed 150 nest
ing boxes for owls which
prey on rodents which also
chew on the lines.
The fast growing
trees are planted between
145 to 290 per acre and are
harvested after 12 years
when they reach an av
erage height of 110 feet.
They grow an average of
10 feet in height and one
inch in diameter per year.
They are then taken to the
mill in eight, 10 or 12 foot
logs where they are cut into
boards, then taken to the dry
kiln on the Port of Morrow
and cured with excess steam
heat from the nearby gas
power plant. The company
plants and harvests about
600,000 trees per year.
During the growth
Arbogast, Gould fill elk tags
Cade Arhogast (left photo) and Tom Gould (right photo) filled their elk tags this hunting season. -Contributed Photos
Health department to conduct free flu clinic
The Morrow Coun
ty Health Department will
conduct a free flu clinic at
Riverside High School in
Boardman from 4-7:30 p.m.
on December 1.
Shots will be given
on a first come, first serve
basis. People with no insur
ance or funds to pay for flu
shots and would otherwise
not be able to get a flu shot
are encouraged to stop by
and get their shot. Everyone
is welcome.
For more infor
mation call the Morrow
County Health Department
in Heppner at 541-676-
5421 or in Boardman at
541-481-4200.
Luke Maynard, irrigation manager for Greenwood Resources,
gave a presentation about progress at the Boardman tree farm
and sawmill to the Heppner Chamber of Commerce last Thurs
day. He said the recession has hit the mill operation and they
have had to cut back on production. Photo by David Sykes
L-R Lee Jimerson, manager of manufacturing accounts for The
Collins Companies, shows Larry Nicholson, Claudia Hughes,
Nancy Snider, Jeff Bailey, Sheryl Bates and Kricket Nicholson
the cut Pacific Albus boards from the sawmill in Boardman.
File photo from 2008 Heppner Chamber o f Commerce tour o f
sawmill article
Trees are grown in straight rows with as few limbs as possible.
They are cut and taken to the sawmill in 12 years. File photo
by David Sykes
cycle the trees are pruned
by hand by between six and
15 crews of 15 men each.
The trees are breed to be
as straight as possible with
the bottoms going to the
mill and the top part being
chipped and sold on the
chip market. About 65 per
cent of the tree is used for
lumber. The company also
plans to supply some mate
rial to the new ZeaChem
ethanol plant opening soon
in Boardman. Maynard also
said they are testing some
logs with peeling for ply
wood manufacturing.
Maynard said they
usually have 15 to 18 dif
ferent clones of the Pacific
Albus poplars growing at
any given time, and that
they are always trying to
develop new clones which
grow straighter, faster and
more bug resistant. He said
it takes four to five years
of testing to develop a new
hybrid ready for production
growing.
After the trees are
cut down the ground is
made ready again for a new
crop again by mulching
up any leftover material
and grinding the stumps
down to the ground. The
irrigation line is pulled up
and wrapped in coils ready
to be laid again. The new
trees are planted in between
the last rows of trees. The
stumps are not removed
because in four to five years
they will break down and
deteriorate away, saving
quite a bit on labor costs,
Maynard explained.
“It's a little tough
right now," Maynard said
about business and the
economy. “But we expect
things to pick up in the fu
ture and we are in this for
the long haul.”
We will be closed at ALL locations
Thursday, Friday 8c Saturday
M onday for holiday shopping
Lorenz announces retirement from school district
Check out our Christmas shopping
Longtime Morrow County School District Business Manager Rhonda Lorenz
recently announced her retirement. Lorenz joins district office superintendent Mark
Burrows, assistant superintendent Phyllis Danielson, and Mary Kay Bellamy from
accounts payable who will retire at the end of the 2010-2011 school year.
flyer in this week's paper1
.
M o r r o w C o u n ty G r a in G ro w e rs
Greeen Feed & Seed, Heppner and MCGG, Lexington
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