March 24, 2020 3:55 a.m. 
In the KQEN Business Spotlight:
Following Monday’s executive order from Oregon Governor Kate Brown, Roseburg Forest Products continues to operate.
Corporate Communications Director Rebecca Taylor, said the order allows all but a handful of specifically listed businesses to continue operating as long as social distancing and disease prevention protocols are in place and enforced. Taylor said by nature, the wood products industry accommodates social distancing, and Roseburg has taken additional steps to protect the health and safety of team members.
Roseburg President and CEO Grady Mulberry said the Governor’s order “allows our industry to continue providing essential infrastructure products to the coronavirus response and recovery”. He said the 2,400 team members working largely in rural communities, will continue to earn income for their families while manufacturing materials used in affordable housing, emergency shelter and hospital construction.
Taylor said the timber and wood products industry accounts for 60,000 jobs in the state of Oregon. Roseburg has seven plants, two administrative offices, more than 400,000 acres of timberland, and a pulp chip export facility in the state.
Taylor said earlier this month, the company ordered all employees who could work remotely to do so, managing the number of people in its offices and facilities to limit the potential for disease spread as much as possible.
The release said last week the U.S. Department of Homeland Security designated the wood products industry as an “essential critical infrastructure workforce” in its guidance to states, recommending that the listed industries continue to operate in response to the pandemic.