In addition to growing trees and producing wood products, Weyerhaeuser is also involved in selling recycled fibers. Fellows visited the Beaverton recycling sort facility and learned about the sort and grading process. Most of the materials collected at this facility come from local businesses, and almost 60% are baled and shipped to Asia for processing. Click on Jasjit for more photos.
Fellows explored the Wood Technology Clinic & Show, a trade event exclusively dedicated to primary wood processing and technology. This show has been running for over 30 years. There are more than 300 exhibitors, 80,000 square feet of exhibit space and thousands of industry professionals from across the United States and around the world. Click on Aussie John for more photos.
WFI Fellows had the opportunity to meet with John Shelk, the Managing Director of Ochoco Lumber. John discussed changes in the lumber business.
An unusual day for a lot of snow! Many of left for work today not knowing that a wintery surprise was waiting for us at WFI. The WFI campus is a few hundred feet higher than most of Portland, and we were surprised to see several inches of snow. Click on the snowy photo for some more.
After six months at WFI, it was time for Lao Zhang to return to his family and work in Kunming, China. His last week at WFI was spent at farewell lunches and dinners, and trying to pack up those last minute gifts. Click on the fishheads for more photos!
Sara had an excellent trip to visit family in both Taiwan and Japan. During her trip, she was lucky enough to meet with many alumni and visitors to WFI, including David Lin, Nancy Liu, Galy Yang, Bonnie Liu, Yen-Chang Chen, and Nobutaka Isoda. Click on the group photo to see more photos!
The 2006 YPG Show was held at the Portland Convention center http://www.ygpshow.com/. The three day event featured more than 275 unique exhibitors, from nurseries, garden centers and specialty merchants to landscape designers and craftsmen. Sponsored by the Oregon Association of Nurserymen, the show reminds us that the nursery industry is the largest agriculture sector in Oregon, employing more than 21,000 people with an annual payroll that exceeds $275 million. Oregon's wholesale nursery industry recorded $844 million in gross sales of nursery and greenhouse products in 2004, up from $779 million in 2003.Roughly three-fourths of the nursery stock grown in Oregon is exported to other states or countries, making Oregon the nation's largest exporter of nursery stock. And the state's nurseries, as well as all Oregonians, can take great pride in knowing that Oregon is No. 1 in the United States in the production of shade trees, Japanese maples and most other kinds of maples, arborvitae, rhododendron and coniferous evergreens. Oregon also is a leader, ranking second or third nationally, in the production of deciduous flowering trees, azaleas and other broadleaf evergreens. Click on the orchids to see more photos from the show.
