Montana celebrates Forest Products Week
This week marks the fourth-annual Montana “Forest Products Week.”
In 2011, the Legislature set aside a week, every October, to recognize the importance of the state’s forest products industry, their contribution to the management of our forest lands, to Montana’s economy and to the stability of our timber-dependent communities.
Montana’s appreciation week coincides with the National Forest Products Week, established by a joint resolution of Congress, in 1960. The resolution proclaimed that “our country and its people have always found constant strength, individual peace and personal pride in the bounty of forest and timberland; and from the beginning of our nation’s founding, the forest and its products have provided a core of living and freedom touching and inspiring each citizen with majestic beauty and practical use. As our only renewable resource, wood offers the availability and abundance to satisfy the nation’s ever growing demand, and through modern forestry, we can be assured of a continuous supply of timber for the future.”
Montana’s Forest Products Week is a wonderful opportunity for the public to learn more about an industry that has been instrumental in the growth of the state’s economy since the F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Company established at its current site just northwest of Columbia Falls in 1912.
This year, the celebration kicks off on Friday, Oct. 17, with two events. First, the Montana Society of American Foresters (SAF) and the Ravalli County Habitat for Humanity have partnered on a three-day blitz build of a new home for a family in the Bitterroot Valley. In addition to labor and transportation, Montana’s wood products industry donated over $10,000 in building and finished materials.
Second, the University of Montana’s College of Forestry and Conservation is offering a free lecture on the current challenges and potential solutions facing the wood products industry.
Other events include a Montana Log Markets Webinar on Oct. 20 and a salute to National Bio-Energy Day on Oct. 22. The Kalispell and Missoula Chamber of Commerce are hosting Timber Tours to close out the celebration.
Information on these events can be found on the Montana Wood Products Association’s website.
Forest Products Week not only highlights the importance of wood as a major component in building and energy design, but the use of wood also provides substantial environmental benefits, offers incentives for private landowners to maintain healthy forests and provides a critical source of employment in rural America. Using wood harvested through sustainable forestry practices promotes a healthy environment and a strong economy.
Timber is among Montana’s most valued resources. For more than a century, this plentiful and renewable resource has sustained jobs and communities. In fact, more than 160 wood-manufacturing businesses in Montana employ roughly 7,000 people, providing $296 million in labor income, $614 million in primary sales and $350 million in secondary sales.
Traditionally, Montana’s wood products industry focused on producing dimensional lumber for building and wood fiber for the pulp and paper industry. Today, Montana’s manufacturing consists of technologically modern sawmills, plywood, fiberboard and particleboard plants, post and pole facilities, pellet mills, biomaterial and sustainable building material companies, log and furniture manufacturers, planers and woodworks.
Montana’s forest products industry provides a workforce for trail restoration, wildlife habitat enhancement, forest and riparian restoration, hazardous fuel reduction, fire suppression and many other worthy activities.
Forest Products Week is a great time to celebrate all the things we use and enjoy that comes from trees.
- Julia Altemus is executive vice president of the Montana Wood Products Association.