Forest Industry Outlook Looking Up In Idaho But That’s Starting From Low ‘95 Level When Mills Closed And Construction Slowed

FOR THE RECORD (January 6, 1996): A story on Friday’s Handle page had the wrong estimate for Idaho’s timber harvest. The correct figure is 1.4 billion board feet.

Idaho’s timber industry couldn’t have a year much worse than 1995, so things are looking up for ‘96, industry spokesman Joe Hinson told a legislative committee Thursday.

Four Idaho mills closed in the past 18 months, said Hinson, executive vice president of the Coeur d’Alene-based Intermountain Forest Industry Association. It was “pretty ugly.”

Hinson expects things to look up a bit in the coming year, as import problems with Canada are ironed out and lower interest rates boost home construction. But, he said, “The big unknown remains timber availability.”

Hinson’s comments came as the Joint Legislative Revenue Assessment and Economic Outlook Committee wound up its second day of hearings. The committee, which will finish its work today, is hearing from industry leaders, economists, state officials and others on Idaho’s economic outlook for 1996.

Based on the presentations, it will estimate how Idaho’s tax revenues are likely to fare.

Hinson said in the past year, lumber prices declined by 37 percent, exports from Canada to the United States increased from 27 percent to 36 percent of U.S. softwood lumber consumption, and federal timber sales continued to shrink.

On top of all that, he said, timber obtained at high prices in previous years was turned into finished wood products just as their prices collapsed.

“It just really wasn’t a good year for us,” he said.

Idaho’s timber industry is at least 40 percent dependent on national forests for the trees it cuts, he said. Though timber harvesting on forest land has dropped, salvage logging in forest fire areas kept many mills operating.

Hinson predicted timber employment in Idaho will total about 15,000 people in 1996, down 2,000 to 3,000 from a few years back. Timber harvest should be about 1.4 million board feet, down 300 million feet from the early part of the decade, he said.

Kevin Boling of Potlatch Corp. said his company isn’t optimistic about a better year, particularly for national forest logging. “It’s a rather gloomy picture if you’re dependent on public timber … ,” he said. , DataTimes