Aug 07, 2009. /Lesprom Network/. Tanking timber prices have sent harvesting in Oregon to its lowest level since 2001, Spotlight News reported. Almost every sector that harvests, from local municipalities to the private industry, drastically cut production in 2008 – the only exception being the Bureau of Land Management, which tripled harvest levels in Columbia County since 2007. The city of St. Helens has reduced logging in its Salmonberry watershed area because of the low timber prices. That means that the city won’t have the same kind of revenue as previous years for capital improvement projects. To offset a potential increase in utility costs as a result of the decline, city Administrator Chad Olsen said it might be smart to delay some of the capital projects. Olsen said it has never been the city’s philosophy to log merely to get revenue, especially when timber prices are so low. “If you can defer some of your capital improvements, it may not be an immediate impact,” Olsen said. Oregon log prices right now sit at about $300 per 1,000 board feet. In 2005, the price was nearly $700 per 1,000 board feet. The main cause of the drop in price is the sour housing market. Statewide, the response to the low prices is clear: the harvest total in 2008 dropped to 3.44 billion board feet from the 2007 level of 3.8 billion board feet. Projections have 2009 estimated at three billion board feet. Columbia County’s total harvest dropped by about 40 million board feet, to just over 115 million. Wayne Auble, assistant forester for the Forest Grove District of the Oregon Forestry Department, said it especially makes sense for the county and city governments, as well as other small landowners, to not harvest. “The prices are just not necessarily worth it,” Auble said. One reason the Bureau of Land Management harvests increased in 2008 was the December 2007 storm that ravaged Northwest Oregon. Floods ripped up forests, leaving timber that needed to be cleared. Auble said it seems like mills in Western Oregon are fairing slightly better than those in Eastern Oregon, where only nine sawmills remain in operation. Unemployment in Columbia County fell for the first time in months in June to 14.7 percent, a .8 percent reduction.