October 2026

Left to right, Dan Shell, senior editor of Timber Processing magazine, presents the 2026 Timber Processing Person of the Year Award to Steve Swanson, Chairman of Swanson Group.

“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” Mark Twain once said. You can say the same for the Northwest sawmill and engineered wood products manufacturing industry, as exemplified during the Timber Processing & Energy Expo (TP&EE) held September 23-25 at the Portland Exposition Center in Portland, Ore.

The Northwest lumber industry has taken some serious hits in recent years (not to mention the decimation of 80% of the lumber companies if you want to go all the way back to the 1980s due to national forest timber sales reductions brought on by environmental groups).

Even since 2012, the first year Hatton-Brown started producing TP&EE, the consolidations and downright closures have been obvious every two years, which is how often the show is held. We knew in the past two years, leading up to the recent show, that several more companies and mills had gone out. Meanwhile, the southern pine lumber industry, which has installed two dozen large production sawmills in the past 10 years, has been the fair-haired child of the U.S. lumber industry so to speak.

But going back to Twain’s quote, Northwest sawmillers on the contrary showed up at TP&EE. Sure, not like in the golden days of the 1980s—the numbers just don’t exist anymore—but their presence was felt.

A quick count reveals that 56 production companies representing dozens more mill operations—from large production mills to family owned millwork plants—made the trip to Portland and combed the aisles amidst nearly 170 equipment and technology exhibitors in the big Hall E of the Expo Center.

We always have fun with numbers, and it looks like Sierra Pacific Industries led the way with 59 attendees, followed by Hampton Lumber with 52, Weyerhaeuser with 47 and Interfor with 45. (Don’t hold us to an exact count.) Other companies with significant numbers were Vaagen Brothers Lumber, Idaho Forest Group, Freres, Swanson, South Coast Lumber, Southport Lumber, Stimson Lumber, and, well, you get the idea. It’s cool to see the personnel touting the company logos on their hats and shirts.

Of course, we’re equally appreciative of the companies that chose to send only two or three of their decision-makers. TP&EE is all about quality and all the quantity we can get.

As the photo on this page depicts, one of the highlights was the presentation of the 38th Annual Timber Processing Person of the Year Award to Steve Swanson of Swanson Group. A packed crowd that included several Swanson personnel at the Hatton-Brown Media Presentation Center enjoyed a few words from Steve, who truly embodies what the award is all about.