JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
Cover: Timber Processing 2020 Person Of The Year
Deep thinking, passionate – adjectives that might not come first to mind when describing a lumberman. Yet, after 10 minutes with Fritz Mason, the President and General Manager of Georgia-Pacific Lumber, it’s obvious they do.
Article by Jessica Johnson, Senior Associate Editor, Timber Processing
Inside This Issue
The Issues: Family Matters To Fritz Mason
The Timber Processing Person of the Year is a chance to look beyond the shiny new steel and see the man (or woman!) who is driving the whole thing forward. Seeing what makes them tick. There’s something incredibly humanizing about looking at an industry leader we’ve all known from afar in a photo that shows what his real pride and joy is – his family. It brings a seemingly larger-than-life person down to Earth. Read More
Newsfeed
- Pinnacle Teams With Sawmills
- Resolute To Buy Three Sawmills
- CLT Firm Coming South
- Sterling Opens Lufkin CLT Mill
- Canfor Purchase A No-Go
- Lance Forest Products Bound For New Mexico
Back In Time
Alger-Sullivan Lumber Co. built a memorable town and highly reputable business. What is more interesting, and even more significant, is that while traces of the original mill are scant, many of the town’s original buildings, including the hotel, post office, churches and dwellings, remain intact.
Article by DK Knight, Publisher/Editor Emeritus, Timber Processing
Thinking Cross-Lam
As the United States looks for ways to reduce its carbon footprint, the commercial construction industry and architects are searching for more sustainable products that are cost effective, energy efficient, structurally sound, and environmentally friendly. At the same time, as housing starts have not rebounded to pre-recession levels, forest landowners and wood products manufacturers are seeking alternative markets.
Article by Richard Vlosky, Mason LeBlanc, Rajan Parajui, Charles Gale
Post Michael
Estimates of successful wood salvage on timberland damaged by Hurricane Michael along the Florida Panhandle and southwest Georgia range from 10-16%, according to some authorities; meanwhile many logging outfits scrambled to contribute to the salvage efforts, and some suffered because of the market ramifications.
Article by Patrick Dunning, Associate Editor, Timber Processing
Machinery Row
- Harrigan Will Install Automated Grading
- Governor Visits Hurst Boiler
- Veteran Filer Joins Oleson Saw Team
Find Us On Social
Going With Fritz
Article by Jessica Johnson, Senior Associate Editor, Timber Processing
Deep thinking, passionate— adjectives that might not come first to mind when describing a lumberman. Yet, after 10 minutes with Fritz Mason, the President and General Manager of Georgia-Pacific Lumber, it’s obvious they do. Mason is an industry titan, with an impressive resume spanning into five decades of experience traversing the country, producing lumber and impacting communities along the way. When looking at the Timber Processing Person of the Year roster it is only fitting that his name appears next on the list. As such, Timber Processing has named Fritz Mason as the 2020 Person of the Year. He is the 32nd annual recipient of the honor and there is no better candidate in the industry who fits the double criteria for this award of leadership within their own company and leadership within the industry at large.
A bit of a legacy lumberman, Mason’s grandfather was the manager of Sugar Creek Pine Co. in the 1940s near Etna, Calif. As a boy, growing up in a family that had long been associated with agriculture in northern California— farming, ranching, logging and sawmilling—in the Yreka area, Mason knew he wanted to work the land. “As I was getting to the point of getting out of high school I really thought I wanted to be a logger, and my mom being wiser convinced me that maybe I should consider more education before I went down that path,” Mason recalls.
Following his mother’s advice, Mason attended Humboldt State University (where he was a classmate with another industry notable, Brian Luoma, President and CEO of The Westervelt Co.) and received a degree in forestry. It was at Humboldt where he first realized the impact of the forest products industry on the country as a whole.
In its simplest terms, why does Mason like being a softwood lumberman:
I like the nexus that you’re working with a natural resource in a very sustainable way, in a process that although seems simple, a 2×4 seems simple, there’s a lot of complexity around it, it requires a lot of human interaction every day to make it work and it’s fun to work with people.
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