Oregon: Harvesting trees with made-up names like Pacific Albus

Steam hissed into the drying kilns at the brand-new Collins Upper
Columbia Mill near Boardman, Oregon, this month. Next month, when the
kilns are running smoothly, the mill will start drying more than half
a million board feet of rough-cut lumber grown on a plantation right
next door. Before long, you may see the pale, light-weight wood in
picture frames, Venetian blind slats, moldings, shipping pallets, the
interior woodwork in RVs, and the lumber used to build movie sets. If
you want a light-colored hardwood for a cabinet project, you may take
it home as edge-glued “hobby panels” from your local Lowe’s or Home
Depot. The pale wood is “Pacific albus.” Never heard of it? Neither
has anyone else. It’s a made-up name, incorporating the Latin for the
common poplar, that fast-growing, energetically suckering tree you see
standing in tall rows along the edges of rural roads and prairie
farmyards.

Poplar isn’t a traditional source of lumber. But the
Portland-based Collins Companies have already started milling it there
beside the Columbia River. You don’t need big Douglas fir to get wood
fiber. Because no one has used Pacific albus before, Collins has to
figure out how to grade the wood and develop markets for it. The
company’s Lee Jimerson explains that Pacific albus is best suited for
niches that require light weight but little strength. Forget about
2/4s. Some of the best wood processed at the Boardman plant will go
into moldings and other millwork. The very best may be peeled and used
in high-end plywood.
http://crosscut.com/2008/12/30/science-environment/18727/

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