"not for those in the mills" (5) "More liens than the tower of piza" (48)

[Terrance]

Under the direction of Reagan & Congress harvest levels were increased
and planning was reduced. 

The plan was to cut as much timber as possible to keep employment and
profit levels high. 



Employment levels during the period 82-87 expanded by a little less than
20% 

And,  harvest levels  more than doubled between 1982 and 1987. 

But who was WORKING and WHO was paying them? 



Technological advances in the timber industry were the chief cause of
layoffs and reductions in force in wood products operations during the
1980s. More efficient, computer driven saws eliminated both mill waste
and high-paying jobs running remotely operated saws. 


New logging methods, including advances in low-impact high lead logging
technology eliminated the number of workers needed to
clear a tract of timber. 


Further consolidation with the industry took its toll as well, as
smaller
operations found themselves priced out of the market when bidding for
public timber, leaving large, diversified and often vertically
integrated corporations to take over an increasing share of the
industry. 


Many mills were sold to companies that did not need them, as part of
package deals that
included private timberland; the mills were summarily closed and workers
laid off. 


The recession was felt more strongly in the Northwest as the industrial
recovery was driven by the defense industry, not housing construction
which traditionally is the bellwether of lumber production. 


For many workers the loss, even temporarily, of a high-wage timber job
meant the possibility of foreclosure on the homes and automobiles that
signified their role in the middle class myth. 

Many simply gave in and took other jobs, leaving behind a life in the
woods that they considered part of their heritage. 

Like WORKING for 

A lawn savant, who'll lop a tree-ee-uh (47)


In some cases this also meant the loss of a family wage, necessitating
spousal
employment with its incumbent strain on family relations and traditional
gender roles. 
A log Jam? 

Oh Cheryl! 


Since most timber workers lived in smaller timber-dependent communities
opportunities for employment were scarce; many were forced to relocate
or take service sector jobs that paid a fraction of their former salary.
As mills closed, the effect of lost payrolls were magnified as they
rippled though local economies, triggering other business failures and
producing an out-migration to larger cities that promised more, if not
better, employment. 



In the worst cases entire towns were decimated, as in the case of
Valsetz, Oregon, a company town owned by the Boise-Cascade Corporation.
In 1983 Boise-Cascade decided to close its Valsetz mill and eliminate
the town. Residents were given one year's notice and in 1984 bulldozers
were sent into level whatever they did not take with them. Valsetz Lake,
adjacent the town, was drained in 1988 as company officials were
concerned over the liability implications of the dam that created the
lake. 

GHOSTS? 


By 1990 Valsetz was not even a ghost town. A vast mudfield stood where
the lake had once provided recreation for area residents, and only
patches of gravel and a few cinderblock foundations remained of the town
site, which once contained a public school, a bar, and even a bowling
alley. 

A bowling alley? 

That flooding reminds me of the flooding of a town in V. 

Hey, this trains gotta run. 



Valsetz came to symbolize the worker's fear of unemployment and the
seeming lack of compassion from timber corporations that considered
profits before people; the social contract had been violated. 



In many cases economic diversification was promoted as the key to saving
these local economies.

Rackets! 

Development commissions were established, state economic development
funds (drawn from lottery proceeds) were used to hire consultants, and a
few demonstration projects were started to demonstrate the possibility
of retraining displaced timber workers. 

Unfortunately, the very qualities that made the timber town what it
was-- its rural location, small population, and blue collar work force
--made economic diversification unlikely. 

Log Jam!

Pass some of the spotted owl, would you, please.