Weyerhaeuser will add 30 jobs to its plant in Natchitoches, La. as part of a $6 million expansion of the engineered wood products plant. The plant manufactures two products tied to housing construction. Trus Joist brand I joists support raised floors, while Microllam brand headers are structural beams that go over doorways or open spaces.

Following a long history of innovation and experimentation, always seeking opportunities for improvement, Jordan Lumber & Supply has yet again found a way to transform an obstacle into an opportunity. This willingness to pursue diverse products and markets has been a hallmark of Jordan’s business practices since its beginning more than 70 years ago.

The mountain pine beetle (MPB) epidemic has now infected and/or killed more than 17.5 million hectares (43.2 million acres) of British Columbia lodgepole pine forest (an area roughly double the size of New Bruns­wick or Austria). BC government reports indicate that 51% of the merchantable lodgepole pine volume in the province had been killed by 2010, and the most recent estimates are that 58% will be killed by 2016 as the epidemic tapers off.

Long-time tribal lumber producer Warm Springs Forest Products Industries (WSFPI) found itself in a pickle by 2008, when the economic downturn began in earnest across all segments of U.S. industry. The mill, which had traditionally cut a mix of fir/hemlock and pine products, was at a competitive crossroads.

BIGonDRY s.r.l. introduced to the market a whole plant of drying, sterilizing HT treatment plant for packaging, vaporizing and the innovative high temperature heat treatment (up to 230°C) with the possibility to control, modify and save data locally and remotely with relevant advantages in time and cost.

John Deere, one of the oldest continuously operating companies in the ­United States, is celebrating its 175th anniversary. John Deere’s very first product, the plow, was fashioned from a sawmill blade. Although advancements in forestry continued into the late 1800s, John Deere products had not been used in the actual harvesting of trees until the 1930s.

Southern Forest Products Assn. (SFPA) has produced a comprehensive collection of data analysis covering SPIB’s proposed design values for visually graded southern pine dimension lumber. This package is now available to the public at www.southernpine.com. All proposed design values for visually graded southern pine are here, along with design values for southern pine machine stress rated (MSR) and machine evaluated lumber (MEL).