This year marks Hampton Lumber’s 80th year in business. Eight decades is a remarkable achievement for any family-owned business, let alone one in the volatile forest products industry. Bud Hampton bought his first sawmill in Willamina, Oregon in 1942, and we’ve grown to include ten sawmills; seven remanufacturing facilities; 265,000 acres of timberland; several reload facilities; and sales operations in Oregon, British Columbia, and Japan. Over the last few years, the Hampton family has also ventured into the winemaking business, with the purchase of several Willamette Valley vineyards and the Carlton Winemakers Studio. While Hampton is now ranked among the 10 largest softwood lumber manufacturers in North America, we remain a community-minded business that recognizes our future is tied not only to our own bottom line, but to the health and prosperity of our employees and the communities in which we operate. Here are our top five lessons learned over the past 80 years of doing business in Oregon.
1. Timber supply will make or break domestic wood manufacturing.
There is nothing more critical to a sawmill than timber supply. Hampton relies heavily on public timber harvests as well as large and small timberland owners to provide fiber for milling operations. Unfortunately, public policy and increasingly severe wildfire seasons pose regular threats to timber supply and healthy, productive forests in the Pacific Northwest. We have and will continue to advocate for smart, sustainable active management of state and federal forestlands to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and ensure a stable timber supply and revenue stream for rural communities and public services.
2. “Social License” is something you must gain but also maintain.
You often hear business leaders talk of the importance of “social license,” generally defined as public acceptance of a company’s business practices. To do this, we practice good forest stewardship and aim to be a constant contributor to the health, safety, and vitality of our employees and our communities. We understand that social license is not something you obtain one day and keep in our back pocket for a rainy day, but an ongoing process that requires constant evaluation, communication, transparency, and accountability. We invest in stewardship and outreach personnel in both Oregon and Washington, listen to and work with our neighbors, and regularly evaluate our practices in the search for “a better way every day.” As an example, Hampton was instrumental in moving forward passage of the 2021 Oregon Private Forest Accord, a collaboration between timberland owners and environmental groups to update the state’s forest practice laws and increase protections for aquatic species on private lands and provide regulatory certainty for all the businesses that depend on working forests.
3. Be there for your employees.
The hard work and creativity of our workforce has been a driving force in our success over the years. Safety has always been a core value of our business. COVID-19 presented new challenges and we worked hard to keep our people and their families safe and our facilities operational. Hampton is a place for our employees to grow and prosper. We understand the value of on-the-job training and provide regular opportunities for employee advancement. For example, we currently have around 80 employees participating in our apprenticeship programs for millwrights, electricians, and sawfilers. We also offer an undergraduate/trades school scholarship for children, spouses, and domestic partners of Hampton employees. Since the scholarship was started in 2018, we have supported over 90 students.
4. It takes a village to produce lumber.
We work with over 100 family-owned businesses in Oregon to help us grow, harvest, and move wood from the forest to the sawmill and to market. Local reforestation crews, loggers, road builders, surveyors, wildlife biologists, truckers and engineers are the backbone of the local forest sector. Early mornings, long days, challenging terrain, isolated locations, and unpredictable and sometimes severe weather. They work through it all and keep our mills and the communities in which we operate vibrant and sustainable. We endeavor to be good partners to each of these businesses and keep the work safe and reliable.
5. Be there for your community.
We take great pride in being an active and supportive member of the communities in which we operate. Throughout the pandemic, we were grateful to have remained operational as an essential industry and active in our communities, providing support for food and housing programs and local restaurants. In addition to assistance for local youth programs, we have recently increased support for education and Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, including high school manufacturing programs and Clatsop Community College’s CTE program. This year, we also created an endowment at Tillamook Bay Community College to provide scholarships for forestry and mechanical industrial technology students. We also bring Portland-based Girls Build to Warrenton, Tillamook, and Willamina each year. Girls Build summer camps offer girls aged eight to 14 the unique opportunity to learn carpentry and other skills from female instructors. These camps provide valuable local exposure to good-paying careers in the trades. As we all know, Oregon is facing considerable challenges related to affordable housing in both rural and urban communities. We provide significant lumber donations to a number of important housing efforts, including affordable housing projects in the Willamette Valley and a facility for homeless women and children in Portland. This year, we also started a partnership with Hacienda Development Corporation in support of their Small Homes NW project. Hacienda is working with moderate-income homeowners to build energy-efficient Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in Portland neighborhoods at risk of gentrification. Hampton will fund construction of a new ADU each year for the next three years—built with Hampton manufactured lumber—to help enhance this pilot program.
Our Portland-based Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Team, established in 2020, is dedicated to advancing equality, equity, and anti-discrimination in our company, industry, and communities. As change begins from within, we aim to ensure we practice what we preach at Hampton so that everyone feels safe, respected, and at home in the workplace. The D&I Team also supports Portland-based organizations such as Girls on the Run, Black Future’s Farm, Self Enhancement Inc. (SEI), and Portland YouthBuilders by volunteering time and providing financial support and lumber donations. These and other ongoing investments reflect our values as a company and the long-term outlook the Hampton family has maintained and nurtured over the years.
These five key principles will continue to shape Hampton’s future in Oregon. As we celebrate our 80th anniversary, I am reminded that we are, and aspire to remain, a company in which our communities and our employees can be proud.
Contributed by: Steve Zika | Hampton CEO
For more information about Hampton Lumber contact Lindsay Davis at LindsayDavis@hamptonlumber.com.
*Sponsored content provided by AOC Business Partner.