Alta Forest Products remains timber industry leader

NAPLES — Alta Forest Products, Naples Mill, has successfully survived more than 100 years and remains leaders in the timber industry, with energy efficiency at the forefront of their goals.

Last November, Idaho Lieutenant Governor Brad Little recognized Alta Forest Products, Naples Mill, as one of five statewide recipients of the 2016 Idaho Awards for Leadership in Energy Efficiency. The award highlights the Idaho organizations that are exceptional state leaders in implementing energy efficiency at their local facilities.

“It wasn’t an easy award to receive,” said Ryan Comer, Alta Operations Manager of Naples. “We worked really hard. Every project that we worked on, we would take a step back and ask how we could produce more, but yet be good stewards and save energy.”

Established in the early 1900’s, Alta Forest Products, Naples Mill, is now the world’s largest producer of cedar fencing pickets, and continues to develop into a state-of-the-art sawmill that is focused on increased production, yet being good stewards of the land and saving energy.

“We are always looking for ways to be more productive and efficient,” Comer said.

The Naples Mill recently completed the final upgrade of the original mill by installing state-of-the-art laser technology to the head rig, according to Comer. The full coverage 3D scanning sensor has unparalleled resolution and data density that provides accurate log volumes, and better monitoring of yield and overall mill performance.

Comer said Alta provides steady employment to 120 local residents and ships an estimated 78 million board feet of product annually all over the United States via the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Railroads.

“Since the 2009 depression, business has been very, very good and it’s been hard to keep up with the market,” Comer said. “Our production has gone up 20 percent since last year and we produced 78 million board feet in 2016.”

Alta purchases timber from Idaho, Canada, and Montana, primarily targeting cedar, though the mill does have the capability to cut hemlock and grand fir in order to produce pre-stained, white wood fencing.

Though the industry is doing well, Comer said he hopes the issues with the national forest closures comes under review by the presidential administration so that steps can be taken to open some federal lands.

“I hope that our new administration, as business oriented as they seem to be, will start looking at doing something about opening our national forests so that we can start using those resources,” Comer said.

Alta operates four sawmills across the Pacific and Inland Northwest, all of which are designed to manufacture boards for residential fencing.

Its flagship mill in Morton, Wash., cuts exclusively Western Red Cedar and is acclaimed to be the fastest lumber mill of any kind in the world on a board-per-minute basis. Alta’s Shelton, Wash., and Naples mills are designed to cut small, tight-knot Western Red Cedar logs, while its Amanda Park, Wash., mill is primarily dedicated to making pre-stained fence boards cut from other high performance species found in the Northwest. n