Would help get Eastern Oregon timber into Oregon homes

SALEM — The Oregon Senate on Monday, April 28, passed a bill to establish a pilot lumber-grading training program.

“This bill opens the door for small sawmill operators to participate in local housing solutions,” said Sen. Todd Nash, R-Enterprise, the bill’s sponsor. “Forty years ago, Eastern Oregon had 69 mills. Today, only seven remain. This is a practical step to support rural economies and increase housing options using locally sourced materials.”

Senate Bill 1061, otherwise known as the Oregon Forests to Homes Act, would operate through Oregon State University’s Extension Service, in partnership with the Department of Consumer and Business Services. It would allow individuals who complete a one-day training course to become certified to grade lumber.

Once certified as a grader, a mill owner could sell his lumber directly to a builder.

Certified small sawmill operators will be able to sell lumber directly to homeowners or their agents for use in single-family homes or duplexes.

The Senate passed SB 1061 on a vote of 27-2. It now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration. According to the Secretary of State’s web page, it has minimal fiscal impact and none on revenue.

Nash said the bill isn’t likely to fully revive Oregon’s once-thriving timber industry, but it will help.

“It just gives another way to process lumber and use it,” he said. “It’s local timber going into local lumber into Oregon homes.”

The senator said he talked to one contractor who said 90% of the material he’s putting into houses is Canadian lumber.

Nash said there were three major mills in Wallowa County in the mid-1990s — one near the Joseph State Airport, a Boise-Cascade Mill by the Chief Joseph Days Rodeo Grounds in Joseph and one in Wallowa where Heartwood Biomass now is.

Today, other than a number of smaller mills, there’s only Zacharias Lumber in Joseph and Heartwood, both of which he said are considered small mills.