The timber industry is far smaller than it used to be in the region, and the shrinkage may not be over. Witness the recent announcement of C&D Lumber, quitting business in Riddle after more than a century in business.
Yet debates over federal forest management continue, with the latest focus on the Integrated Vegetation Management plan in the Bureau of Land Management Medford District. Conservation groups criticize it and take it to court, while timber industry groups say the plans would improve old growth forests.
Corey Bingaman, a field forester for American Forest Resource Council, joins us with the industry view of the BLM plans.