There are mills that do cut metric, but I believe that they are few and far
between. I've seen an occasional story on companies that specifically target
the Japanese market and have tea rooms(?) and the like for conducting business
with their Japanese customers, so this company seemed to have gone the extra
mile. It was actually not a large company, and I seem to recall that it was in
Molalla or Estacada, but that's sifting through 5-10 years of bad memory. Oww,
Oww, Oww, my head hurts.

As of right now, the Japanese economy is so far into the toilet that I wonder
how that particular company is faring. One also has to wonder if a metric size
common to one company is also a metric size common to another.

A friend of mine used to work on the lasers used for sawmills to cut down on
waste on their cutting. I don't know if retooling for something like that also
means they retool so that they can cut metric as well as to US standards. I
have to think that sticking to gallons and feet and pounds while the rest of the
world goes metric will eventually bite American businesses in the ass. We can
continue to get away with it for now because our market is so big, but I'm still
uneasy about it.

gatt wrote:

Good stuff, Larry! I guess I agree with your statement that if we don't
harvest timber domestically, we'll buy it from somewhere with even more
destructive practices. Out of sight, out of mind and all that.

Nothing else to add, but, I was told once that one reason the sawmill
industry is hurting is because they don't cut to metric measurements, which
renders are lumber useless most other places in the world. So, the timber
is shipped offshore and cut to metric standards there. Do any of you know
how accurate that is?

-c

"Larry Harrell"
"Larry Caldwell" wrote in message

Thinning of national forests to minimize high intensity forest fires
has
been much in the news since last summer. Thanks to virulent attacks
by
environmentalist lobbyists in congress, any effort to better manage
federal lands is dead, at least until after the November election.

Well, to be fair, it's been the recent past abuses of federal land
management in the name of "salvage" that resulted in a huge growth of
environmental activism. Steep-slope logging and road building does
exist, and existed during the Clinton administration. Hull Oakes had
roads
built at taxpayer expense into the Tobe West area, which had very steep
slopes right over a coho salmon spawning area, and the logging operation
was
shut down as soon as OSU and the government got around to inspecting the
area, wherein they discovered what the enviros were telling them all
along:
steep slopes over streambeds and the presence of endangered species
within
the forest.

Exactly as the enviros had said. But, the operation wasn't stopped
until
dozens of people had been arrested and a two million tax dollars were
spent
on a road that would have benefitted only the logging operation because
the
road was otherwise off limits to the public. Yarder lines went right
over
Tobe creek, and I provided aerial footage showing that their "selective
clearcut" razed the land right down to the dirt. By the time the
officials stepped in, the area had been 70% cut. That one made 60
Minutes.

Of course, what Hull-Oakes did is try to get their turn-of-the century
steam-powered plant, which required large-girth timber to operate,
turned
into some sort of living museum which meant that the taxpayers of the
state
of Oregon would provide them with a certain amount of board feet of old
growth timber per year by law--profits and price of public admission, of
course, going to the company.

Another example is, of course, Warner Creek which was a timber salvage
auction of an old growth stand that went to a local company with prior
felony documentation of timber theft and auction-rigging. The
"salvage"
fire was blatant arson; the arsonist didn't even bother to take his
gasoline
can out with him. Since there were no roads to the site, somebody
actually
had to lug the gasoline can out into the woods and deliberately start a
fire
in an old growth forest where there was virtually no reason to burn
whatsoever except for salvage sale under the timber salvage rider on the
"Oklahoma City Bombing Victim Relief Act."

Clinton was such a spineless piece of crap that, rather than take the
head
for refusing to sign the OKC relief act and having the balls to tell the
public exactly why, he signed it including the timber salvage rider that
industry shills managed to attach to the end of the bill. In case
anybody
was wondering why the environmentalists in Oregon prefered to vote for
Nader
even if it meant sabotaging the Democrats, that's why. The Democrats
in
this case were absolute cowards.

With our best fire suppression efforts, we lost 8 million acres in
2000
and
approximately the same this year.

Well, "we" didn't lose anything because it wasn't ours in the first
place
except by manifest destiny and the idea that just because it's there
means
it's there for us to exploit.

-c

In 1995, thinning was wrongly termed as "salvage". True salvage is the
harvesting of dead and dying trees. There is still plenty of potential
for abuse and corruption of salvage operations, though. For example;
any old growth "ugly" tree could be wrongly "judged" as dying by less
than experienced personnel. We seem to be stuck in a cycle of "crisis
logging" where trees die because of fire and drought, forcing agencies
into harvesting "salvage" trees and training new, inexperienced people
to learn about forest management practices.

Would Nader have been any better at managing today's forests? I really
don't think so. Currently, it remains unclear if Bush will be
effective in doing what is right for the land, instead of what is
right for the (corporate) humans. His track record so far has been not
so good in trying to do "end runs" around existing laws. The true test
will be whether he can come together in a bipartisan compromise that
will allow forests to be managed in an ecologically sound manner, that
will avoid court battles and will address and implement projects that
will restore our forests back to health without breaking the bank.
(Yes, economics IS a part of the equation and has to be balanced with
all the other forest issues)

Currently there is gridlock in Washington, Oregon and California.
Changes, big and small, have to be made in order to bring health and
balance back to these eco-systems. IMHO, the logging of old growth in
the Pacific Northwest has to go. Enhancing those remaining stands and
encouraging other stands is the true way to go.

Forget about the crap of whether the lands is ours or whose. Loss of
forest is a loss for everyone. With our consuption not decreasing, we
have to get those forest products from SOMEWHERE. If logging ceases
here, we WILL get logs from somewhere else that doesn't have rules and
good practices when planning and logging trees. We don't need to
exploit our forests to supply our wood products appetite, just proper
management.

Larry eco-forestry rules!