Project Roundup: The Collins Companies and AP Partner on $35 Million Sawmill Project in Boardman

by Jeremy Morris, P.E., Project Engineer

The Collins Companies broke ground September 14, 2007, on the new Collins Pacific Albus hardwood sawmill with over 100 guests in attendance. The Collins Upper Columbia Mill is scheduled to open in 2008 and will bring approximately 100 family-wage jobs to Morrow County. The new mill will produce 100 million board feet per year of Forest Stewardship Council-certified green kiln dried and surfaced hardwood lumber. The $35 million state-of-the-art sawmill project was developed by a partnership among the Collins Companies, GreenWood Resources, Inc., and the GreenWood Tree Farm Fund. The project consists of a sawmill facility at the tree farm located on Pole Line Road, drying kilns, and a finishing mill at the Port of Morrow.

The poplar trees are harvested from the tree farm every 12 years and limbs are pruned to 25 feet long, resulting in a cream-colored wood almost completely free of knots. Uses for the Pacific Albus include Venetian blinds, picture frames, slats for suspended ceilings, molding, furniture, and various uses in the R.V. industry.

The Collins Companies is a 150-year-old family-owned company with hardwood and softwood forests in Oregon, California, and Pennsylvania. Because of their sustainable forest practices, the mill will know year in and year out how much wood it will have to process and will never run out of logs. The new mill will be one of the largest hardwood sawmills in the United States and will utilize as many green features as possible. The mill will also use steam from the PGE Coyote Springs co-generation power plant for operations.

AP performed survey topography, civil site design, construction engineering, and construction staking services for both the sawmill and the planer (finishing) mill sites. The civil site design included on-site domestic water, fire protection, looped infrastructure, sewer laterals, drainfield design, pressure sewer for waste from the kiln, stormwater management, and overall site grading. Many of the site civil tasks involved coordination with multiple agencies, consultants, and contractors as well as the owner. Agency coordination with the City of Boardman, the Port of Morrow, the Bonneville Power Administration, and Morrow County were essential to keeping this fast-track project on schedule. Civil site design was completed in early March 2008, and construction is well underway and is scheduled to be completed for a September 2008 startup.

Information about the Collins Companies and the Upper Columbia Mill project was provided with permission by the Port of Morrow newsletter.