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The State of Oregon sold its timber by oral auction until
around 1992. Around 1992, the State switched to sealed bids.
The State sold timber primarily on a lump-sum basis, and
occasionally on a per-unit basis.
D. North Santiam Canyon Timber Market in the Late 1980's
The forest products industry is cyclical. Timber prices
were high and contracts were for long terms in the late 1970's.
Prices fell in the early 1980's. From 1983 to 1986 many mills
closed because they were saddled with commercially impractical
contracts.
Timber costs rose in 1987 and 1988, foretelling increased
competition for timber. The Federal Government issued forest
plans which stated the amount of timber it intended to harvest
each year for 10 years. The draft plans in the late 1980's
showed 20 to 25 percent reductions. It was widely known in the
industry that the northern spotted owl had been petitioned for
listing as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act
of 1973, Pub. L. 93-205, 87 Stat. 884 (current version at 16
U.S.C. secs. 1531-1544 (1994)), late in 1986. Many mills closed
in 1987 and early 1988.
In 1984, Congress passed the Timber Contract Payment
Modification Act, Pub. L. 98-478, 98 Stat. 2213 (1984), which
gave timber companies more time to harvest timber from the old
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