China Trip Opens Doors for Members
A recent trip to Shanghai, China, proved highly successful, reports Ned DeJarnette, SFPA’s director of international markets. Ned and SFPA board member John Barber of Trout River Lumber LLC teamed up to spend time at the AF&PA exhibit at the Domotex ChinaFloor 2007 trade show and in visits with staff at AF&PA’s Shanghai office. They also met Wayne Batwin, director of the U.S. Agriculture Trade office. “This trip opened doors that all of our members are welcome to walk through,” Ned said. SFPA assists its members and the Southern Pine Council in trade efforts through its international marketing program, which includes covering expenses for trade trips using Foreign Agriculture Services (FAS) funding. Call Ned at 504/443-4464, ext. 233, for details.

SPC Literature a Hot Download
Visitors to www.southernpine.com downloaded 32,592 PDFs of Southern Pine Council literature during the first quarter of 2007, representing an amazing 92% increase over the same period last year. More than 300,000 pages were viewed during the quarter with 114,522 pages viewed last month alone. The product locator continues as one of the most-visited sections. During the first quarter, 17,676 visitors used the locator to find a wide range of Southern Pine products, including specialty items such as paneling, ceiling, flooring and decking. Searches for SP dealers and distributors maintained the pace of the same period in 2006, totaling 12,653 searches for dealers and 2,556 for distributors. Remember – all SPC members are entitled to list their products on the locator.

Online traffic to www.RaisedFloorLiving.com continues to grow with nearly 94,000 page views in the first quarter, a 17% increase from the same period in 2006. Based on SPC’s popular 48-page Raised Floor Systems: Design and Construction Guide, the site provides information such as the key elements of a raised floor system, the construction process and case studies.

Wanted: Teacher Tour Sponsors
Each summer, the nation’s third through eighth-grade science teachers gain a better understanding of forestry and the forest products industry through the Temperate Forest Foundation’s forestry tours. Companies can help the cause by signing up to sponsor a teacher. The foundation is currently seeking sponsors for a tour planned for the south-central region of Mississippi in 2008. The intensive three-day tours include visits to forests and mills. To sign up as a sponsor or inquire about hosting a mill visit during this or future tours, contact Guerry Dean at 503/579-6762 or gdean@forestinfo.org. For more information about the tours and sponsorship costs, visit www.forestinfo.org/teachers/teachers.htm. 

Southern Pine in the Rockies

The National Wood Flooring Association’s Education Conference and Wood Flooring Expo last week in Denver offered a great opportunity to extol the virtues of Southern Pine flooring.  SFPA Treated Markets Director Richard Kleiner and Industrial Markets Director Russell Richardson represented the Southern Pine Council at the event, which attracted about 1,000 people.  “Participating allows us to position SP as a flooring choice,” Russell said. Many attendees stopping by the SPC booth asked how and where to get SP.  Richard and Russell naturally referred them to the product locator on the SPC Web site.  They also distributed copies of the Southern Pine Patterns and Southern Pine Flooring guides. “Heart pine was a hot topic,” Russell said. “It seems to be a popular product on the market right now.” 

 Reducing Storm Damage

Cathy Kaake, SFPA director of engineered & framing markets, participated in a workshop designed to identify mitigation measures Gulf Coast states and communities can use to minimize future hurricane damages as they cope with recovery and reconstruction.  Sponsored by the Association of State Floodplain Managers and FEMA, the workshop was held last week in New Orleans. Scholarships were available to cover conference and travel expenses for local community officials in the five Gulf Coast states. “This was another excellent opportunity to network with key policy-makers who have the authority to determine elevations and construction requirements for rebuilding their communities,” Cathy said.  “This is important for our raised floor promotion as well as for maintaining wood-frame construction in general.”