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02/18/13

Touring a Sawmill in Northern California VIDEO

One of the more unique stops during my trip through Oregon and California this winter, thanks to my Twitter friend Mark Lathrop aka Twitter’s @SustainableWood, was a visit to a saw mill in Anderson, California. The only other time I had seen a sawmill, was a very small one in India without many modern technologies. This sawmill was a commercial-scale operation though and with that came a lot of differences! Here is a video of short clips I took as I walked through the mill.

What sawmill was I at?

I was at Sierra Pacific Industries Anderson Mill. The company is a third-generation family-owned company that focuses on forestry.  As the company has grown, so has its ability to manage its lands in a responsible and sustainable manner. They are doing a lot of things they can to use every bit of every tree they plant and cut.

Why does Mark call himself @SustainableWood?

Seems the forestry business has changed a lot in the past few years! Mark and others in forestry are interested in conserving resources while producing the products we need. Sierra Pacific uses modern forest management practices that are designed to be close to natural and some state-of-the-art equipment optimizing every fiber of every tree. They are part of the independent Sustainable Forestry Initiative to help ensure our forests are here for generations to come. They have also undertaken the Battle Creek fish restoration project – one of the largest cold water anadromous fish restoration efforts in North America.

Sawmill Tour in Photos

saw mill yard

sawmill yard

Stacked logs

Stacked logs

saw mill yard

sawmill yard

logging equipment

a wicked piece of equipment that picks up logs

looking down the railroad tracks to the saw mill

looking down the railroad tracks to the saw mill

sprinklers keep the wood wet

sprinklers keep the wood wet

Mark Lathrop @sustainablewood of Sierra Pacific

Mark Lathrop @sustainablewood of Sierra Pacific

the log picker upper

the log picker upper

the feeder for the mill -- where logs are fed in

the feeder for the mill — where logs are fed in

Logs being fed into the mill

Logs being fed into the mill

cutting for length

cutting for length

this it the machine that strips the bark off the logs

this it the machine that strips the bark off the logs

the bark is kept to the side

the bark is kept to the side

This guy feeds log into the first length-wise saw

This guy feeds log into the first length-wise saw

driving the saw mill

driving the sawmill

saw mill saw

check out the saw action

saw mill tour guide

Mark showing us the mill

lumber being cut

wood after some of the first cuts

sustainable wood

this machine maximizes use of the log by choosing various sizes

sawdust

crazy amounts of sawdust fly

lumber cut

beginning to see lumber

saw mill worker

a few employees keep things moving smoothly

lumber mill equipment

this sorts lumber by length

lumber sorted by size

lumber sorted by width & length

sorted lumber headed to palletts

Looking at the lumber as it is sorted by size

tour group at Sierra Pacific

my tour group 🙂

lumber on a forklift

lumber stacked & ready to go

Questions About Forestry?

I am sure this opens up ideas and questions for some of you. I’d be glad to try and get them answered!

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Comments

  1. Mark Lathrop says

    February 18, 2013 at 3:21 pm

    Thanks JP! 🙂

    • Janice Person says

      February 18, 2013 at 5:27 pm

      Thank you Mark! Congrats on the new grandbaby too! 🙂

  2. Kathy Abusow says

    February 27, 2013 at 4:58 pm

    Nice blog and nice video. Thanks for taking the time to share your mill visit. We are proud of SPI and their commitment to responsible forestry. Kathy

    • Janice Person says

      February 27, 2013 at 7:21 pm

      Thanks Kathy! Appreciate your visiting my blog… so nice that you tweeted it too!

  3. Mike says

    June 16, 2013 at 11:13 am

    Janice- great post. I am going to be near Anderson and I am interested in touring this mill. Any tips on how to schedule?

    • Janice Person says

      June 21, 2013 at 9:34 pm

      I’ll send a message to my friend Mark. Is it okay for me to send him your email address?

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