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The Small Log Conference Hosts First Reverse Trade Mission
“Right after I finished with my panel, a guy grabbed me, and all of a sudden I was buying logs from the Colville Tribe and selling lumber to China,” said Russ Vaagen (Vaagen Brothers Lumber) of his conference experience. Vaagen Brothers, based in Colville, Wash., hosted several dozen conference attendees on a pre-conference tour that included stops at Columbia Cedar in Kettle Falls and Hearth and Home Technologies in Colville.
Attendees came from around the globe, many of them ready to do business. Started in 2004 by TimberWest Magazine, the Small Log Conference (SLC) has always been international, but this time around, it morphed into a reverse trade mission, as well.
Now headed up by Missoula-based Forest Business Network, the conference attracted a 20-person Asian trade delegation from China and South Korea, in addition to over 250 delegates, speakers, and exhibitors from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Finland. The mix of cultures, industry practices, and expanding markets created a strong business climate that energized small log producers, already buoyed by an upturn in domestic housing starts.
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