The Timber Industry and Free Trade
By Steve Kadel, K-Falls Herald & News
August 18, 2008

A timber industry group says Klamath County has lost at least 1,094 timber jobs since 1994 as a direct result of U.S. trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.

However, others say trade agreements accounted for only a small portion of the lost jobs compared with other factors such as harvest levels under the Northwest Forest Plan.

Free trade agreements with Canada, Mexico, China, Peru and other nations remove tariffs on imported forest products, said Marty Demaris of Klamath Falls, business representative for the woodworking division of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

He said the agreements cost Oregon more than 10,000 jobs, including 3,500 jobs in Southern Oregon. That includes 307 jobs lost in Lake County, he said, pointing to U.S. Department of Labor statistics.

Demaris says foreign countries enjoy a number of unfair competitive advantages over the U.S. when it comes to producing timber.

“They can go in and cut those forests without having to replant,” he said.

Demaris adds that foreign competitors maintain sweatshop working conditions, including child labor, with no oversight. They adhere to weak or nonexistent environmental policies, with lax enforcement of laws that are in place, he said.

Direct or indirect subsidies given by foreign governments contribute to the unequal playing field, Demaris said.

“There are just no (local) jobs because of these trade deals,” he said.

Arthur Stamoulis of the Oregon Free Trade Campaign agreed.

“We’re sick and tired of these trade deals that are costing our jobs,” he said. “Klamath County has been hit especially hard.”

Congress passed the trade agreements that hurt American timber workers, Stamoulis said.

“I think a lot of them are only listening to large campaign donors, not to their own constituents,” he said. “These trade deals are bad for American workers and bad for the country.”

But Tom Partin of Portland, president of the American Forestry Resource Council, discounted the impact of international trade deals.

“I think that’s a piece of the puzzle, a minor piece,” he said.

More important, he said, is the Northwest Forest Plan, which cut predicted harvests in the state by 80 percent. He mentioned the spotted owl as one of the big factors in the reduced harvest levels.

“Obviously we are going to lose some forestry workers,” Partin said. “More jobs were lost in the industry through the Northwest Forest Plan than from trade agreements.”

Budget constraints prevent the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management from increasing the amount of timber offered for sale, he said. Lawsuits by environmental groups also keep the harvest levels down.

Partin estimates that Oregon has lost 30,000 timber jobs since 1995. He said Boise Cascade recently laid off shifts at its plant in La Grande. Earlier, the firm shut down its veneer plant in Monmouth, he said, and mills in John Day and Wallowa shut down last year.

“Most of these are reflections of not having the availability of wood,” Partin said.

Luke Kintigh, spokesman for Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said loss of timber jobs in Oregon should largely be blamed on Canada’s subsidized lumber. He said trade agreements have had “little to no impact on the loss of timber jobs.”

Kintigh said the Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement expired in 2001, causing a flood of “dumped” Canadian lumber products to flood the U.S. market. That drove prices down and put Oregon timber and lumber jobs at risk, he said.

Brian McDonald, spokesman for Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., said free trade agreements “may have had some impact on the industry over the years.”

However, he said recent pacts have recognized the danger to the U.S. industry.

“There have been far more losses to the timber industry through the U.S. rules and regulations that have shut the industry down and brought it to a crippled state,” he said. “We certainly do not have a sustainable practice out of our national forest system, and many thousands of jobs have been lost as a direct result — far more than through trade agreements.”

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and as defined under the provisions of "fair use", any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment for non-profit research and for educational use by our membership.

Put Blame for Lost Jobs in Right Place
Letter to the Editor, K-Falls Herald & News
September 2, 2008

Thanks for covering the topic of timber industry and free trade on Aug. 19. The article did a good job of pointing out the connection between the loss of 1,094 timber jobs in Klamath County since 1994 because of bad trade agreements.

I’m not surprised that Rep. Greg Walden would attempt to cover his backside by downplaying the issue because he voted away our jobs with these bad trade deals.

Also, I find it interesting that the representative from the American Forest Resources Council blamed environmentalists, yet it was the Council that filed the most recent appeal in this region attempting to stop a timber sale that would thin small-diameter fire prone trees because it did not include enough old-growth timber.

Blaming the environmentalists and Forest Service-Bureau of Land Management people for the loss of timber jobs only deflects the real problem which was caused by the export of good jobs through bad trade agreements and local mills that took all the big trees and then closed up shop and left Klamath Falls once the supply ran out.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and as defined under the provisions of "fair use", any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment for non-profit research and for educational use by our membership.