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Pedee, Oregon | The SO drama masked a huge transition period for logging. New technology that replaced labor was moving into the woods and sawmills. Private timberlands had regrown to harvestable size and companies had acquired enough land base to develop continuous cut rotations on owned property. The owl was a pretty clear warning that the old standard of relying on public land for timber harvest was in peril.
When we charged back into the woods after the owl shutdown it was a completely different show. Harvester/processors on leveling undercarriage could go just about anywhere and rapidly replaced labor intensive high line logging on all but the steepest ground. Labor numbers were never the same. Heck, now they are flying haywire across the canyons with drones. Takes 15 minutes to do a job that took at least a couple guys all day to do.
The SO wasn't good for anyone here, that isn't my argument at all. It's important to remember that there was much other change happening at the time. | |
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Lumber prices
