Lumber limbo. Rocky Mountain Log Homes of Hamilton says it has bent over backward to remain competitive

Rocky Mountain Log Homes http://rmlh.com forester Pat Connell can’t help but feel a bit torn every time he sees a load of processed house logs roll into the main plant just south of Hamilton.

For he knows every load means this 30-year-old Bitterroot Valley cornerstone business will keep operating another day.

At the same time, Connell grimaces when he thinks about the expense of hauling logs 1,100 miles.

In 2002, Rocky Mountain Log Homes moved the house-log milling portion of its operation to British Columbia, after years of struggling to find enough available standing dead trees around the region. The company was enticed to move upward of 40 jobs across the border with promises of a plentiful supply of lodgepole pine killed by an explosion of bark beetles.

“It wasn’t cheaper for us to move,” Connell said. “It was simply a matter of survival. The cost of getting house logs into our yard here just continued to grow and grow. It’s really aggravating to think that we’re spending 600 gallons of diesel for every damn load of logs that comes in here, especially if you consider the huge supply of dead wood standing within a 50-mile radius of us.”

By PERRY BACKUS of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2006/09/17/news/top/news01.txt