The Climate Economy: TallWood Design Institute director on how mass timber is taking root in Oregon
Mass timber has carried a burden in Oregon since the middle
of the last decade, when it began to be promoted as a sustainable
building-material alternative to steel and concrete and their
hefty greenhouse-gas emissions footprints, and as a catalyst to
revive the long-suffering forest economy.
Post $40M investment, Freres Engineered Wood’s alternative product business grows
Freres Engineered Wood — formerly known as Freres Lumber
Co. — made its first mass plywood panel in 2017 after investing
$40 million into developing the engineered wood product,
including building a 182,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.
FRERES CELEBRATES CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
Lyons, Ore.-based Freres Lumber Co., now doing business as Freres Engineered Wood, is celebrating its centennial year, marking a century of transformative growth and positive impact on the wood products industry, clients, employees, and its surrounding communities. Freres celebrates this monumental milestone by unveiling its new brand and logo which commemorate Freres’ longstanding history while reflecting its commitment to innovation and advancements as it looks forward to the next 100 years.
Restore Forests, Decarbonize Building, And Sequester Carbon Through Forestry, Biomass Energy, And Biochar
Forest and biomass industries can help grow biochar production and use. One Oregon mill, the Freres Lumber Company, converts renewable fiber to carbon smart building materials, supplies fiber to paper and engineered wood products, generates firm renewable power, sequesters carbon, and enables carbon and nutrient cycling with biochar.
Santiam Canyon district turns a $17.9 million bond into a $26 million project
Alex Mitchell never thought the day would come when he would want to come to school. After almost a year of learning entirely in front of a computer screen, he was ready to come back to Santiam High School to complete his senior year. “Sitting behind a computer all day wasn’t working,” Mitchell said.
Meyer Memorial Trust by LEVER Architecture
Michelle Depass, the CEO of the Portland, Oregon-based Meyer Memorial Trust, the state’s largest private foundation, thinks the label “civic building” is less about the architecture than action. She would argue that the Trust’s new headquarters fits the definition: “Building democracy isn’t about four walls. It is a participatory practice.”
Freres Lumber Utilizes Caldwell Rotary Leg Lumber Lifter
Freres Lumber Co. Inc. is using a custom below-the-hook attachment, manufactured by Caldwell, to lift long lumber loads at it’s Mass Ply Panel facility in Lyons, Oregon.
The 15-ton capacity, 53 ft.-long, motorized rotary leg lumber lifter handles lamellas (thin layers / plates) of structural composite lumber, used to manufacture Mass Ply products. It is attached to a 20-ton capacity overhead crane with two hoists; the lifting equipment and attachment were provided by U.S. Crane & Hoist, also of Oregon (Wilsonville).
No time to waste: Freres begins post-wildfire timber salvage
LYONS, OR – The suffocating smoke that blanketed the Santiam Canyon after Labor Day wildfires consumed nearly everything in their path is gone. The Beachie Creek and Lionshead fires displaced more than 1,200 residents, destroyed more than 500 homes and consumed 400,000 acres of forest lands, both public and private.
The long process of rebuilding homes and lives has begun.
Freres Lumber mass timber Mass Ply beams and columns now APA certified
LYONS, OR – Freres Lumber’s mass timber Mass Ply beams and columns are now APA certified. Freres has continued to innovate and expand its Mass Ply Panel products, and is now able to offer its customers beams and columns in dimensions up to 24 inches thick and 48 inches deep.
