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Press Release
February, 11th, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Proposed AltreeTM Facility is supported by New Feasability Study
The new proposed AltreeTM facility received a positive "thumbs up" in the study that was just completed by Joe Stuart, Professor MMET from The Oregon Institute of Technology. Professor Stuart summerized the study as follows...
"The AltreeTM project is a promising project. It uses green manufacturing technology to produce an environmentally friendly product. It is good for the region, good for Oregon State, and good for the manufacturing industry. It is hoped that this feasibility study will support the application of P&M Plastics to obtain the loans with favorable interest rate and financing terms. This project should be financed."
P&M Plastics, located in Mountaineer, New Mexico, intends to build a new wood/plastic composite manufacturing plant in Chiloquin, Oregon. To produce WPC panels, this plant will use western juniper wood waste (chips) and recycled plastics. The patent to produce this new AltreeTM product is co-owned by The U.S. Forest Service and P&M PLastics. The panels will be 4'x8'x1/4" and will be used for road signs and other products.
At capacity this facility is projected to put to work, up to 100 employees at the site and provide another 25 jobs to outside contractors. For the City of Chiloquin, which has an unemployment rate of 33.1%, and the local economy, this is great news.
With this feasability study complete P&M Plastics can now move forward.
To view the full study please go to... "FEASABILITY STUDY"
December, 2008
Mark Cobb and Juniper Works (previously West Coast Juniper Distributing) to be Honored at the Oregon Leadership Summit
Mark Cobb, owner of West Coast Juniper Distributing Now called Juniper Works, will be honored as part of a campaign recognizing rural Oregonians who are making great environmental and economic contributions to their communities. The Rural Roots campaign is a program administered by the Farmers Conservation Alliance and will be launched at the Oregon Leadership Summit on December 11, 2008.
Chiloquin, Oregon - December 3, 2008 – Mark Cobb, owner and operator of West Coast Juniper Distributing, will be counted among the six honorees receiving special recognition at this year’s Oregon Leadership Summit. Cobb and his company will be profiled as part of a public awareness campaign called Rural Roots, presented by Farmers Conservation Alliance (FCA). The Oregon Leadership Summit will be held in Portland, Oregon on December 11, 2008.
Attendees at the Summit include 1500 state and local government officials, as well as community and non-profit leaders from across Oregon. The Rural Roots campaign honors rural Oregonians who are making great environmental and economic contributions to their communities by bringing greater awareness to their work. Cobb’s contributions were selected for special honor by Sustainable Northwest; an Oregon non-profit that helps people and communities restore and maintain ecological health, balance diverse interests, and promote economic opportunities.
In 2006, Cobb started marketing lumber from Western Juniper as a green-building product that costs about the same as comparable products using cedar lumber. “The enterprise has brought logging jobs back to areas where logging jobs shrank thanks to decreased prices for pine,” Cobb says.
Owned and operated by Cobb since 2006, West Coast Juniper distributes “eco-friendly wood” or Western juniper which is unique to the west coast and is considered a sustainable, renewable resource. The timber is green-farmed using eco-friendly harvesting and then processed locally in Oregon.
As an experienced woodworker, Cobb knew that juniper, an invasive species that is currently being controlled because it consumes so much water, had the durability and aesthetics to become a high value product. After working with a local mill, Cobb helped create a full line of kiln dried and green lumber. Now, Cobb uses this wood to build furniture and lumber products that he retails, wholesales and distributes throughout the world. With 50% of his business conducted online, Cobb’s business has grown to achieve more than $350,000 in annual sales while providing 4 full-time jobs.
The Rural Roots honorees will be featured through dramatic portrait photography by Aaron Hewitt in a slideshow presentation, on a series of take-away “story cards” that will be given to each attendee, and on the campaign’s website, www.RootofSustainability.org, set to go live on December 10th. The website will feature a gallery of portraits of each honoree, surrounded by the Oregon landscapes in which they live and work. It will also present an audio recording of them telling their story in their own voice and words, produced by OPB’s Ethan Lindsey.
For more information about West Coast Juniper Distributing, or this particular news angle, please contact Mark Cobb at (541) 783-3375.
News Articles- West Coast Juniper Distributing (WCJD) Now called "Juniper Works":
WCJD's inception-
"(Mark) Cobb discovered Juniper when looking for wood for a table he was making...(He)became intrigued by...(Juniper products)"...and "put my thinking cap on and pointed myself into that direction," says Mark Cobb- Owner and CEO of WCJD. The Oregonian- August 2008
"He signed on as the distributor for Reach mill's juniper decking and other kiln-dried juniper products. "From there we've branched out"...says Cobb. The Oregonian- August 2008
"In 2006 , Cobb started marketing non-structural lumber from western juniper as a green-building product that costs about the same as comparable products using pine lumber. The enterprise has brought logging jobs back to area where logging jobs shrank thanks to rising prices for pine, Cobb says." Sustainable Industries- September 2008
Juniperus Occidentalis-
Effects on the Environment:
"Plants tend to disappear on sites where there is an abundance of juniper." says Dave Powell, a forester at the Umatilla National Forest- Pendleton, OR. "As it's grown, it has expanded quite a bit to areas with grass and Ponderosa pines, and its water use rates are extremely high." states Powell. The Portland Tribune- September 2008
"Western juniper, a relative of the Eastern Red Cedar, also causes a process called allelopathy, in which its' leaves spread a phytotoxin that kills other plants in the area." The Portland Tribune- September 2008
"They (Juniper) are an amazing species. Very efficient species." says Scott Leavengood, Director of Oregon Wood Innovations Center. The Oregonian- August 2008
Positive Usage:
"Juniper has long been considered a worthless nuisance." The Oregonian- August 2008
"Cobb is taking Western Juniper, considered by many a weed....and marketing it as a waste-turned-green lumber product." Sustainable Industries- September 2008
"The company (WCJD) removes mature trees that are no longer growing but still are hogging water from plants around them." The Portland Tribune- September 2008
Andy Schotts of WCJD-"The boards are rated at 30 years, lasting two to three times longer than pine or cedar." The Portland Tribune- September 2008
"...(WCJD) sells five types of flooring, wall panels, decking, outdoor posts, mouldings, and trims using a supply set to last for 'untold years' at current sales rates. The company also sells the waste to a door manufacturerer that uses the high-fiber material for door skins." Sustainable Industries- September 2008
"The wood..is ideal for building raised garden beds in an organic garden, because Western Juniper is naturally pest-resistant and requires no chemical treatment, unlike other lumber...which often is soaked in arsenic..." The Portland Tribune- September 2008
"No matter how you do the math,"says Mark Rankin of D&V Lumber in Portland, OR, "...juniper is untreated, aromatic and beautiful. It lasts a lifetime." The Oregonian- August 2008
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