The Montana Wood Products Association

The Montana Wood Products Association was founded in 1972 and serves as a major voice for the wood products industry while actively dealing with timber, logging, and wood products manufacturing issues in the public arena, and with state and federal government.

Mission Statement: To promote healthy forests and healthy communities through management of Montana’s forests.

The Rust of the Story

To learn more about insects and disease in Montana’s forests, please follow these links:
Photo of pine beetle kill in a forest

The Latest Headline News Links

A House in the Woods, After the Woods are Gone (New York Times, 7/2/2009)
…Last week we threw in the towel. A logging crew cut down all but a few of our trees…

Active forest management is the solution to bark beetles (Western Institute for the Study of the Enviroment, 7/2/2009)
…University of Montana Forestry Specialist... testified last month before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power Hearing on Mountain Pine Beetle: Strategies For Protecting The West.…

Community battles beetles by burning trees (Missoula Independent, 7/2/2009)
…But how long can we spray, and what might we be poisoning besides the bugs? Isn’t it futile? Experts predict 90 percent mortality…

Idaho Timber plant in Whitefish shutting down (Daily Inter Lake, 7/2/2009)
…Sixteen employees of Idaho Timber of Montana in Whitefish lost their jobs last week as the company makes plans to permanently shut down its manufacturing plant.The remaining 10 workers will lose their jobs within the next three months…

Environmentalists lose timber lawsuit ((AP) Billings Gazette, 7/1/2009)
…The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the suit on Friday by the Missoula-based WildWest Institute…

Judge tosses Bush-era forest management regulations (New York Times, 7/1/2009)
…The planning rule determines how 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands develop individual forest plans…

Local national forest joins Twitter (Ravalli Republic, 7/1/2009)
…“We’re always trying to find ways to connect with folks and make information available..." said Nan Christianson, spokeswoman for the Bitterroot National Forest…

Officials say fire season in West mild so far ((AP) Daily Inter Lake, 7/1/2009)
…we don't expect any severe fire activity on a large scale anyplace else in the West."…

Researchers turn microscopes on pine beetle epidemic (Canadian Press, 7/1/2009)
…"One of the reasons why we have such a poor understanding and such a poor ability to predict the spread of this mountain pine beetle epidemic, is that for the longest time we haven't really fully appreciated that the mountain pine beetle epidemic isn't like an earthquake, which is beyond our control."…

Bull of the Woods (Western News, 6/30/2009)
…Curtiss is one of many Libby natives that have a strong connection to the logging industry. In fact, he logged from early childhood up until about 11 years ago…

Judge overturns Bush administration logging rules (Associated Press, 6/30/2009)
…The ruling marked the third time federal courts have turned back attempts to change the 1984 version of what is known as the viability rule within the National Forest Management Act…

Plum Creek land sold for wildlife management area (Tri-City Herlad, 6/30/2009)
…The Nature Conservancy and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation have acquired 2,675 acres of land from Plum Creek Timber Co. in the Naches River area for conservation.…

Beetles turn state forests brown (Billings Gazette, 6/29/2009)
…I was shocked to see the scale of change over that time. Lodgepole pine forests that had been luxuriantly green are now brown and dead…

Forest Service disagrees with recent study ((AP) Montana Standard, 6/29/2009)
…that by its count 43 percent of the 10.8 million acres treated by federal agencies in recent years was in and around communities threatened by wildfire…

Beetles add new dynamic to forest fire control efforts (New York Times, 6/28/2009)
…As the height of summer fire season approaches, more than seven million acres of forest in the United States have been declared all but dead, throwing a swath of land bigger than Massachusetts into a kind of fire-cycle purgatory that forestry officials admit they do not yet have a good handle on for fire prediction or assessment…

Biomass energy a sustainable solution (Montana Standard, 6/28/2009)
…"Biomass utilization creates commercial value in this product, and it can partially offset the cost of work we are already doing."…

Closing time for two mills (Daily Inter Lake, 6/27/2009)
…150 lose jobs at Evergreen, Pablo…

Plum Creek workers hand in their hats (Missoulian, 6/27/2009)
…Plum Creek is still open to offers from anyone who wants to buy the Pablo mill…

In the warming West, climate most significant factor in fanning wildfires’ flames (USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, 6/26/2009)
…The study revealed that climate influences the likelihood of large fires by controlling the drying of existing fuels in forests and the production of fuels in more arid ecosystems …

Log home builder selling off assets (Ravalli Republic, 6/26/2009)
…The company, which once employed 60 to 70 workers, closed earlier this spring after four decades of operation north of Victor…

Tree owners could reap climate bill windfall (Idaho Statesman, 6/26/2009)
…it would allow polluters to buy credits from owners of forestland as an alternative to switching to fuels other than coal and gas or installing expensive equipment to capture the greenhouse gases…

Canada's forest industry world's worst (Calgary Herald, 6/25/2009)
…Canadian companies account for only 11 of those 100 companies but still had losses of $4 billion…

Judge dismisses suit over lumber payments (Associated Press, 6/25/2009)
…Conservation groups lack standing to challenge the federal government's decision…