RICKREALL — No other wood is like Oregon white oak. For years settlers in Oregon considered it a “trash tree” and used it as firewood or fencing material. But Oregon oak is hard, waterproof and resistant to abrasion. It was good enough for the Vikings and other seafarers to use in their ships. And, fortunately for Ben Deumling, it’s plentiful in the Zena Forest. Today Deumling, his brother, his brotherin-law and his mother are the owners of Zena Forest Products, headquartered in the Zena private forest about 12 miles west of Salem. It’s one of the only surviving old-growth forests in the Willamette River Valley. The short version of the Zena story is that the Deumling clan relocated from Germany around 30 years ago to care for property on behalf of an absentee owner. Over time neighboring parcels were added, and in 2008 the Deumlings purchased the majority of the On Solid Ground Airport project a showcase of Zena Forest Products Oregon white oak growing in Zena Forest at left and harvested, above. Below, Ben Deumling, owner and president of Zena Forest Products, gives a tour of the forest and the saw mills in Rickreall, Oregon. land and secured a conservation easement, ensuring the Zena would be protected as a working forest in perpetuity. Around that time, Ben Deumling, fresh out of college, moved back home and established the millwork and sawmill, which today employs nine people. (Zena is a historic name somewhat shrouded in mystery. There is today a Zena Road nearby and a Zena Church, and that’s about all that survives of the town of Zena, aside from the forest.) The forest has a unique ecosystem. Not part of the Coast Range, it’s situated in a series of dry, rocky hills in the middle of Willamette River Valley. “Today it’s sort of an island of forest surrounded by farmland,” Deumling says. “There’s nothing wrong with the tree, it’s just it wasn’t Douglas fir, which was the main driver of our timber industry here in Oregon,” 40
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==