It’s a public-relations dream: Save an outdated,
inefficient timber mill from the scrap heap by making it a working
museum that cuts logs for show.
But there’s a
catch: Hull-Oakes Lumber Co., owner of the 90-year-old
steam-powered mill near Monroe, Ore., wants the federal government
to guarantee two-thirds of its timber supply – 12 million
board-feet a year off public lands – at a fixed price outside the
bidding process.
Nice try, say some critics who
call the museum a front for obtaining subsidized timber. They argue
as well that the mill, listed on the National Register of Historic
Places, has operated without a wastewater permit since 1989. “Their
closet is full of skeletons,” says Doug Heiken of the Oregon
Natural Resources Council.
Hull-Oakes says the
permit issue was an oversight, and has since gotten the
permit.
But company spokesman Wayne Giesy doesn’t
deny either a profit motive or a desire to tell the public about
the history of logging. The timber subsidy, he says, would offset
hundreds of thousands of dollars the company will spend on an
interpretive center, guides and walkways.
There’s
still a major hurdle, however. Hull-Oakes needs congressional
approval to exempt the company from the timber bidding process.
*Peter Chilson, Sarah
Dry
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Timber mill dreams of museum.
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