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2021-A Healthy Review

By Community, News

IFG’s focus on Wellness came into the year by creating an employee led Wellness Committee.  The Wellness Committee met once-a-month to collaborate and create a fun, interactive program to engage employees and help them focus on their physical, mental, spiritual, occupational and financial well-being.  Thank you to the members of the committee for your hard work throughout the year!  Wellness Committee Members: Cristi Brooks (Sales Office), Christian Burgess (Laclede), Heather Bashaw (Grangeville), Christie Stockstill (Lumberton), Jason Nail (Lewiston), Zeke Barajas (Moyie), Holly Shreffler (Sales Office), Mark Higbee (Athol) and Cheryl Jeffords (Communications). After one full year of promoting the Essential Six discount (with over 90 employees who earned the $50 per month off their insurance premiums) we added a component to include spouses who can earn and additional $25 per month off their insurance for completing certain activities. It has been a popular program for spouses and we hope to see further participation in both programs. In Spring 2021 we had 31 employees that participated in the Spring Dash that was held virtually by United Way.  IFG’s team placed 4th overall and the IFG participant with the best time/distance ratio was Zeke Barajas of Moyie, who also came in 2nd place overall. Between April and June, IFG hosted onsite Dental clinics with a mobile dental clinic ran by Jet Dental. We had 83 employees participate in the events and had positive feedback that the quality of the work was good, and services were fast and friendly. During Open Enrollment this year, IFG rolled out Omada,…

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IFG October Lumberton Sawmill Project Update

By Community, News

IFG Lumberton Sawmill Project Construction of the Lumberton sawmill continues. The up-to-date photos show building structures starting to take shape on site. Some of these updates include: Site preparation (excluding utilities) is around 98% completed Including earthwork and soil cement Concrete is moving forward on schedule with some delays due to weather Building erection on the finished lumber warehouse and sorter building is making great progress. Roofing has started on both the finished lumber warehouse and the sorter building. Siding will be the next item to go up. The sawline floor steel is going up and teams are prepping to pour Q-deck (Concrete flooring) Sawmill Equipment, buildings, and Kiln 1 materials continues to show up daily. Sub-steel progress continues on the sawline and trimline. Kiln 1 & 2 structural concrete is completed Kiln 3 concrete has started and should be completed by the middle of October 3 chain concrete transfer pads have been poured between kilns 2 & 3 Our Central Fab team in Athol, Idaho is meeting schedule and working on a handful of projects that will help tie together the construction underway at the Lumberton site including: Kiln carts and Kiln weights End of arm tooling for automation pick and place systems Next steps on site include: Continuing concrete implementation on Kiln 3 Continued torquing and welding on sub steel Continued trimline support steel erection and sawline flooring structural steel Continued roofing, insulation, siding, and fire suppression on the sorter main building and finished lumber warehouse Continued implementation of Fire Main and underground…

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National Forest Products Week October 17-23, 2021

By Community, News

Written by Heidi Brock Posted online by the American Forest & Paper Association From paper towels to tissues and toilet paper, or boxes used to protect an online order, as well as printing and writing papers that help facilitate reading and communication and wood products found throughout your home. It’s hard to imagine a day without using these sustainable forest products. The American Forest & Paper Association celebrates the essential people who make these essential products, especially this week, during National Forest Products Week. Forest products are a refreshing reminder that as we are living, learning or working, we can still do our part to be responsible stewards of the planet. Ours is an industry of people who know that a strong and vibrant forest products industry goes hand-in-hand with healthy forests. Demand for forest products means continued demand for and replanting of trees – the more than 1 billion planted in the U.S. each year. Our work doesn’t stop at sustainable manufacturing or sustainable forestry. Advocacy and education are also at the heart of what we do, sharing information and resources with lawmakers and policymakers, as well as local communities. So, the next time you reach for a product made from paper or wood, pause for a moment and consider how that product was made and who made it. It’s the approximately 950,000 people in the forest products industry. Individuals who care deeply about the thoughtful use of resources. Individuals working together to advance sustainability and grow U.S. jobs and the economy. What is Wood? Wood comes from trees…

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University of Idaho Basketball Arena Charts a Future for Mass Timber

By Community, News

Written by Julie Kies, Wood Innovations Coordinator USDA Forest Service, Northern and Intermountain Regions This article was posted online on October 2021 by Wood Innovations: US Forest Service With an undulating roofline designed to mimic the rolling hills overlooking the University of Idaho’s Moscow campus, the Idaho Central Credit Union Arena is hitting new creative heights for mass timber. The 62,000-square-foot, 4,000-capacity facility is home to the University of Idaho’s men’s and women’s basketball teams—the Vandals—and highlights Idaho’s sustainable forestry and wood products sector. Mass timber is the general classification for a group of wood products. They are made by mechanically fastening or bonding with adhesive smaller wood components to form large, prefabricated wood elements used as beams, columns, walls, floors, and roofs in buildings. These products sequester carbon and have a smaller environmental footprint than traditional building materials. The $51 million arena was made possible in part by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, (USDA) Forest Service Wood Innovations Grants program. This funding supports traditional wood utilization projects, expands wood energy markets, and promotes using wood as a construction material in commercial buildings. “The Wood Innovations funding (from the Forest Service) enabled us to engage architectural firms early on and really nail down the proof of concept that would define how the project would proceed. Showcasing the potential of mass timber and relying on local wood supply were priorities for us,” says Dennis Becker, Dean of the University of Idaho’s College of Natural Resources. A Magnet for Students The arena will establish an identity for…

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American Tree Farm System Certification has Perks for Idaho Forest Group Suppliers

By Community, News, Uncategorized
Written by Madeline Bodin This article is reprinted from the Summer 2019 edition of Woodland Magazine with permission from the American Forest Foundation   Caude Burlingame has no problem identifying any tree on his roughly 300 acres of forested land scattered throughout four parcels in the northwest corner of Montana. "If a tree is dying, I can figure out why." His goal as a Tree Farmer is to leave his land in better shape than he found it. Even though he has a deep knowledge of trees and how to manage them, a stand of trees on land he purchased recently had him baffled. He was particularly concerned about the grand firs there, which were being attacked by beetles. "This was a distressed property," Burlingame said. "It had been logged a couple of times in the last 20 to 30 years and was kind of junky. I didn't know if I could find a logger interested, because there was not enough profit. As a landowner, I just wanted it cleaned up." Burlingame had started working with Idaho Forest Group (IFG), a Coeur d'Alene, ID-based lumber company, when he harvested trees on one of his properties just a few miles from the Idaho border. IFG foresters Russ Hegedus and Skyler Hoefer had been helpful in the past, so he turned to them again for advice. Hegedus and Hoefer were happy to help Burlingame figure out how to improve the trees on the new property. They, like Burlingame, are thinking about the future, with a common goal...
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