Reviving Timber Sales Boost Sawmill Hiring

Sierra Pacific Industries lumber sorting and grading operation. Positions at its sawmills, millwork, and windows manufacturing plants include labor, machine and equipment operators, maintenance millwrights, mechanics, electricians, truck drivers, office accounts and clerical, and computer technicians, among other jobs. ANDERSON, CA -Lumber and wood products firm Sierra Pacific Industries has its help-wanted sign out, with rising demand reactivating dormant plants and putting workers on overtime.

At Sierra Pacific Industries, job listings include a millwright/machine maintenance technician for the Aberdeen, WA plant; a high voltage electrician for is Anderson, CA fabrication shop; laborers, log and lumber truck drivers, millwrights and machine technicians for its Anderson, Arcata, Lincoln, Oroville, Quincy and Burney CA mills, as well as at Sierra Pacific Industries' Mount Vernon, WA.

Forest products firm Sierra Resource Management, Jamestown, CA, has increased staffing 20 percent and hours by 50 percent, to meet rising demand for redwood, fir and other softwoods, its president Mike Albrecht telling the Wall St. Journal, "There are more jobs."

Shipments are up 12 percent over two years, according to RISI. Calaveras County reports 2011  timber shipments were 33 million board feet, valued at $4.1 million up from 25 million board feet valued at $1.8 million in 2010.