MISSISSAUGA, ON – UCS Forest Group has purchased the Atlas Lumber Company, a 70-year-old family-owned lumber manufacturer and supplier based in Chino, CA.

Founded in 1944 by the Porter family, Atlas Lumber currently operates a 50,000-square-foot warehouse with an inventory of 1 million board feet of hardwood and softwood lumber and plywood, plus flooring, moulding and decking. The site also features a milling facility capable of surfacing, ripping to width, cutting to length, sanding, gluing and more.

Randy Porter will continue to manage Atlas Lumber, which becomes the newest division of Sierra Forest Products Inc., a UCS Forest Group company serving the U.S. market. Sierra Forest Products also operates facilities in West Chicago, IL; Portland, OR, Salt Lake City, UT; Denver, CO; and Seattle, WA.

UCS Forest Group said the purchase of Atlas Lumber is consistent with its strategy to grow and expand in key North American markets.

Gordon Clough, director of marketing for UCS Forest Group, said, that in spite of the economic downturn, during the last seven years, "UCS has stayed the course of steady planned growth." He rattled off a list of company start-ups and acquisitions, including:

     • Acquired A&M Wood Specialty of Cambridge, ON, in 2007;

     • Start-up of Sierra Forest Products division in Seattle, WA, in 2007;

     • Start-up of Sierra Forest Products division in Denver, CO, in 2007;

     • Started servicing the Portland, OR, and Edmonton, AB, markets in 2011;

     • Increased the size of West Chicago, IL, facility by 50 percent in 2011;

     • Acquired Reimer Hardwoods of Calgary, AB, in May 2014; and

     • Expanding West Chicago, IL, facility by 50,000 square feet this summer.

UCS Forest Group import and distributes specialty products serving customers in the architectural woodworking, commercial and residential furniture, and cabinetmaking industries. UCS does business as Sierra Forest Products in the United States, Upper Canada Forest Products in Canada, UCS Global internationally and A&M Wood Specialty.