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COUNTY BEAT 14 CITY BEAT 14 COURT BEAT 15 Newsworthy
Looming Expiration of Softwood Tariff Worries Timber Industry Montana’s congressional delegation urges Forest Service to provide relief
BY TRISTAN SCOTT OF THE BEACON
A witch’s brew of misfortune has cast a spell on Montana’s timber industry, stag- gering the beleaguered market as mills pare back hours and lay off employees with little relief in sight.
The multifaceted problem is complex, compounded by the looming expiration of the softwood lumber agreement – the Canadian tariff that former U.S. Sen. Max Baucus put in place in 2006, ending a vit- riolic lumber trade dispute between the U.S. and Canada – is set to expire Oct. 12.
The SLA had a six-to-nine-year time limit and was extended for two years in 2012. Since then, there has been little in the way of negotiations between the two countries to renew it.
According to Random Lengths, a trove of inside information for the wood-products industry, the American dollar equaled roughly $1.33 Canadian in August, and the softwood lumber agree- ment between the two countries dropped its tax from 15 percent to 5 percent, mak- ing the U.S. market more attractive.
Because the Canadian “loonie” – the country’s dollar, named for its state bird, the common loon – is slipping against the U.S. dollar, the country sees a 25 percent profit from the exchange rate alone when it exports to the U.S.
And with the U.S.-Canada trade agree- ment set to end next month, the market will likely be flooded with more Cana- dian lumber.
Chuck Roady, director at F.H. Stol- tze Land and Lumber in Columbia Falls, said competing with cheaper Canadian
Wood is sorted in the F.H. Stolotze Land and Lumber Co. log yard in Columbia Falls. BEACON FILE PHOTO
has made it one of the most attractive markets in the world and is a boon to Canadian business.
“There’s a lot of moving cogs right now and it has really taken a toll on the wood products industry,” said Todd Morgan, director of Forestry Industry Research at the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana. “And when the Canadian softwood lum- ber agreement ends, I think there’s con- cern that the Canadians are really going to flood the market with lumber.”
While Stoltze has pared back its hours of operation from 80 hours a week to 60 hours a week, other mills in the state have been forced to layoff workers.
The news prompted Montana’s entire Congressional delegation to implore the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management on behalf of the state’s timber industry to grant flexibil- ity on federal timber sales.
Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines and Rep. Ryan Zinke all sent letters to USFS Chief Tom Tidwell, asking for relief and flexibility to soften the impact of foreign demand and exchange rates on the tim- ber industry.
And while Roady said extensions of timber contracts would help and that he’s not predicting any additional cuts at Stoltze, Morgan said the economic after- shock will continue to weaken the indus- try for some time.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see mills taking some down time, either by short- ening shifts or through curtailments,” Morgan said.
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lumber is a lopsided endeavor because the U.S. and Canada have two different systems for harvesting logs.
Canadian lumber companies have an easier time accessing trees for harvest when compared to the American system, and invest much less while competing in the same market.
“It’s a completely uneven playing field but we’re both selling into the same mar- ket,” Roady said. “Combined with the exchange rate that is a huge amount of money that they make when they export their timber across the border.”
Although early economic forecasts
called for a promising year, the timber industry lost momentum this summer as housing starts slowed and the domes- tic timber market hit another stagnant point, while commodity prices for 2x4 and 2x6 studs tanked, dipping from $355 per thousand board feet earlier this year to $280.
Meanwhile, China’s market down- turn and the devaluation of its currency has dwarfed the country’s building boom and stanched the flow of its imports. That means Canadians can’t sell lumber to China, so they’re unloading it in the United States, where the strong dollar
Whitefish Siren Falls Silent During City Hall Construction Dating back to 1919, the Whitefish curfew siren will be reinstalled on new City Hall
BY TRISTAN SCOTT OF THE BEACON
For the next two years, a peculiar hush will fall over Whitefish at precisely 10 p.m.
The silence is relative, of course, but it will at least be peculiar to residents accustomed to the familiar dissonance of the Whitefish curfew siren, notable as much for its blaring tradition as its utility in alerting tardy children that it’s time to head home.
But with the demolition and subse- quent construction underway on the new Whitefish City Hall, the traditional 10 p.m. curfew siren, which is perched atop the fire bay at the old fire hall, has gone quiet.
Whitefish City Manager Chuck Stea- rns said the high-decibel siren would be mothballed until the tower on the new City Hall is built and operational. Con- struction is expected to take up to two years.
The siren began blowing its horns to signal curfew in 1919. It was called the “Ding-dong ordinance,” and it originally went off at 9 p.m., according to Whitefish historians.
A few years later, the city changed the alarm to 8 p.m., and in 1944, they bumped it up to its most recent spot at 10 p.m. Before the days of radio pages, the siren went off on fire and ambulance calls.
Today, with a mostly paid staff of emergency services personnel, the siren
is largely the product of a bygone era, though it’s silence will surely be noted.
Stearns said an interim location for the siren was considered, but it didn’t make sense to erect it somewhere else given the costs.
“For an 18-month period we couldn’t justify spending $10,000 to put it up somewhere temporary,” Stearns said. “Eventually it will have a new home at the new City Hall.”
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SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM