Siletz Tribe, ALCAN reach agreement on Toledo Log Export Yard
The Siletz Tribe has reached an agreement with an Alaska based company to build an export log yard on the Yaquina River similar to the one pictured on the Columbia River near Rainier, Oregon. (Photo by Larry Coonrod)
By Larry Coonrod
TOLEDO—An Alaskan based company could begin a log export yard in Toledo early next year.
ALCAN Forest Products owner Eric Nichols says his company has reached an agreement with the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians to use a portion of the 70-acre Publisher’s Mill property south of Toledo. Nichols said the company is still looking into permitting issues and zoning issues and negotiating for longshore workers to load the log ships.
“We’re moving forward slowly,” Nichols said. “We’re continuing to march down the line toward making our final decision.”
ALCAN plans to debark and stockpile logs at the Toledo property before trucking them to the Port of Newport’s International Terminal for shipment overseas. Nichols said if the operation continues to move forward, the first log shipment is likely to go out in late spring or early summer.
“I would assume sometime before next June,” Nichols said. “It depends on how slow it gets started.”
Port of Newport General Manager Don Mann said the port has had some preliminary discussions with ALCAN about using its newly rebuilt $26 million International Terminal to load out log freighters.
Rainer, Ore. based Teevin Bros., another log exporter, is negotiating with the Port of Newport to build a 15-acre paved log storage yard at the port for its own log export operation.
For the cash-strapped port needing to dredge its commercial and sport marinas, log exports represent a needed revenue infusion. Moorage fees at the International Terminal could be as high as $100,000 per ship.
Port officials say resuming log exports is important to the local fishing fleet in other ways as well. The Army Corps of Engineers bases dredging funding on a port’s shipping tonnage. If Newport cannot make a go of exporting cargo, the Corps would have no reason to maintain Yaquina Bay as a deep draft harbor, they say. A shallower bar increases the danger to fishing and research vessels because of increased breakers.
The prospect of log exports resuming for the first time in more than a decade has met with resistance from some Newport residents. Opponents say the increase in trucks accessing the International Terminal via SE Moore Drive and the east end of Bay Boulevard pose an unacceptable safety risk to pedestrians and vehicles.
The Newport City Council meets Monday to consider accepting a traffic impact analysis from Teevin Bros. that would clear the way for its log operation. Because ALCAN plans to build its log yard outside of Newport, it does not need a permit from the city to use the SE Moore route to the International Terminal.
Contact Larry Coonrod by email at editor@lincolncountydispatch.com.
