Locational Changes in the Forest Products Industries of the Pacific Northwest

Robert L. Monahan Western Washington State College Locational Changes in the Forest Products Industries of the Pacific Northwest The forest product industries are of major economic importance in the Pacific Northwest and particularly in the portion lying west of the Cascade Mountains, the area usually called the DouglasFir Region by the forest products industry. Some interesting changes in the location of the processing plants are taking place which have economic and geographic significance. The number of plants processing the forest yield is declining, and the less numerous plants are concentrating in larger centers of production. Several factors have contributed to this shift. Fuller utilization of the trees has encouraged the clustering of plants producing a variety of products. Waste products from one type of plant are frequently a major source of raw materials for another type of processing , and wood "wastes" are usually bulky, low unit-value commodities with a restricted range of movement imposed by transportation costs. The desirability of access to both domestic and foreign markets is generally recognized by forest-product oriented firms. Locations served by a variety of transport including ocean shipping are advantageous . Economies of scale are becoming more and more important in the forest products industries, and the plant expansion necessary to achieve economies of scale usually means the abandonment of small plants in widely scattered locations. The general trend in the forest industry is toward higher yields of forest products because of higher levels of utilization of timber harvested. This is accompanied by a gradual decline in employment 29 30ASSOCIATION OF PACIFIC COAST GEOGRAPHERS resulting from the substitution of capital for labor. A review of selected major portions of the forest industry indicates the general nature of the locational shifts. Sawmilling Striking changes in sawmilling have taken place during the past 40 years both in the location and in the number of mills. There has been some decrease in total production during this period, but the outstanding change has been in the location of lumber production within the region. In 1927 production was concentrated in the Puget Sound and Grays Harbor areas ( Figure 1 ) . Dense old-growth stands in lowland locations and easy transportation to tidewater processing plants favored large mills and low-cost shipment of lumber to world as well as domestic markets. The development of the forest industry had followed this pattern and by 1927 some of the major production centers were starting to decline. The depression years of the 1930's severely retarded lumber production and permanently closed a number of the large mills which had cut the easily accessible timber of the lowland areas. Clevinger provides a good discussion and graphic portrayal of these changes.1 During World War II regional production climbed again to 1927 levels. The most rapid growth took place in southwestern Oregon with Oregon exceeding the lumber production of Washington in 1942, a situation which has not been reversed. Following the Second World War, a great expansion in the number of mills occurred throughout the region as many small mills were built adjacent to the stands being harvested. This expansion reached the peak of 1,888 mills in 1947 ( Figure 1 ) with a concentration of the new growth in southern Oregon.2 Production of lumber approximated 9 billion board feet which compared favorably with the output achieved under the stimulus of war. Delayed domestic construction of the war-time period, formation of many new family units, and the generally good economic conditions expanded demand and increased the price of lumber. These conditions resulted in the entry of many marginal producers which operated for relatively short periods of time. 1 Woodrow R. Clevinger, "Locational Changes in the Douglas Fir Industry,' Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, Vol. 15, 1953, pp. 23-31. 2 West Coast Lumbermen's Association Statistical Yearbook, 1960, p. 4. VOLUME 28/ YEARBOOK 1 196631 19271947 PRODUCTION IN THOUSANDS OF BOARD FEET I I LESS THAN 100,000tHH 500,000-750,000|: ;;;:) 100,000-250,000^| more than 750,000 •|ÌÌÌjjjf 250,000-500,000 Figure 1. Number of sawmills and annual production by counties in the Douglas -Fir Region of Washington and Oregon, 1927 and 1947. (Source: West Coast Lumbermen...