Montana's log home industry

In the last 2 decades, the log home industry in Montana has grown and currently is ranked among the largest in the US, offering high market value and generating high employment levels. The 3 types of house logs produced are: 1. hand-hewn or authentic style, 2. machine-planed or lathed, and 3. sawn. Markets for Montana's log homes have changed substantially since 1976, expanding from a few states to the entire US and other countries. The major change from 1981 to 1988 was the continuing development of markets outside Montana. The log home industry requires a specialized timber product; while lodgepole pine has been most commonly used, other species also are being used. By 1988, Douglas fir, western larch, western red cedar, and Englemann spruce, along with lodgepole pine, accounted for more than 97% of the timber processed into house logs in Montana. In regard to employment in the 1980s, the log home industry has seen a substantial increase in the number of workers and the number of workers per million board feet of timber processed. In Montana, the industry also has become more labor intensive.