Timber Industry

Deer Lodge Lumber Mill Lays Off 23

makes me wonder if it is too late to stop payment on the bail-out check for 700 billion? it would be wiser to invest in green energy job creation. we need to build solar cells for roof top heating, electric cars, efficient train systems, etc. instead of handing a great big reward to wall street for bad behavior. we need jobs first before we can worry about tax plans and investment portfolios. without jobs there is no income to worry about taxing. that is what is called a real depression and unless we get our priorities straight and start investing in the new green economy we will keep heading downward. people who once worked in our woods and mills to give us the lumber to build during the construction boom can be put to work building the things we need now to save energy and bring utility bills and gas bills down.

After having shored up credit between banks it will be absolutely necessary to invest in some efforts to update and renew all of our infrastructure just as it was following the Gilded Age and the Roaring Twenties, bear--not even to mention the many previous financial panics; but first things first--if we are going to leave ourselves at the mercy of capitalists, we must be certain the capitalists are in tip-top condition, mustn't we..?

As the housing market continues to be depressed, let us hope these workers are able to find other employment. While the need for timber may have slowed down, the need for other natural resources hasn't: coal, oil and gas, gold, silver, copper, etc. We still need projects like the Bull Mountain Mine, Rock Creek Mine, and others to move forward. And, these projects will, without doubt, help bring some good news to Montana's employment sector.

Below are snips taken from the AP article "Lumber industry threatened by glut of unsold homes." The entire article is available at: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081023/lumber_struggles.html?.v=1

Lumber industry threatened by glut of unsold homes
Thursday October 23, 2008
By Timothy R. Brown, Associated Press Writer

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- The glut of homes in foreclosure, vacant, or stuck on the market has the nation's lumber industry hanging on by a limb.

Since housing starts hit their peak in mid-2005, demand for lumber used in floors, home frames, and cabinets has declined sharply, and experts say the number of unsold homes would need to significantly decrease before homebuilders commit to building new ones.

Glenn Hughes, a forestry expert with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said many loggers are faced with difficult decisions. A global economic slowdown, tight credit, and the housing bust are hitting sawmills hard and shutting down logging companies.

"Boy, surviving this downturn. I have talked to a lot of people who have been in the business for many, many, years -- this is probably the roughest they have seen it," Hughes said.

The brutal economics of the housing crisis don't appear to be letting up, continuing to drag down demand for both hardwood lumber, for floors and cabinets, and softwood, used in home frames.

Even if home buyers miraculously returned to the market to purchase unsold homes, Al Schuler, a research economist with the USDA Forest Service, says it may be a little too late to lift up the lumber industry because the inventory of unsold homes is "a huge number."

"We are going to be building smaller houses. We are going to see lot more 2,000 square-foot homes rather than 5,000 square foot," he said.