Zena Forest Products’ co-owner, Ben Deumling, grew up roaming around his family’s 1,300-acre forest in the Willamette Valley, which his family has managed since the 1980s. In 2007, Ben and his mother, Sarah, built a sawmill to make hardwood flooring from white oak and maple harvested from the Deumling's land. Zena Forest Products is now the largest “forest-to-floor” company in Oregon.
When PDX hired Zena to manufacture white-oak floors for the main terminal, Ben and Sarah took another leap of faith: They became the first company in America to make edge-grain floor tiles using smaller trees, which they cull from their land to make the remaining forests healthier.
This interview has been edited for concision and clarity.
How did you go from managing a forest to making hardwood floors?Our forest is a classic Willamette Valley mix of Douglas fir, Oregon white oak, and Western big-leaf maple, plus a few minor species. But [in the early 2000s,] the only thing that generated revenue was selling Douglas fir logs. Conventional wisdom said: Cut down your hardwoods and plant fir. We didn't want to do that.
We're really glad we didn't, because in our changing climate, the Doug fir is really struggling in a lot of forests, and the oak is thriving. It’s probably the most climate-resilient species we have on the West Coast. Flooring is really the best suite of products that we can make out of these trees.
For PDX, you came up with a new way of making hardwood floors?Traditional flooring is made up of strips of lumber, displayed face-grain up and joined tongue and groove. Everyone wants wider, longer boards. The edge-grain floors we're making for the airport are tiles made up of little sticks held together with wire on the undersides. (Editor’s note: “edge-grain” means the tiles display the sides of the boards, not the top “face” grain.) It was a new, innovative look that the architects at ZGF loved.
No one in North America makes edge-grain floor tiles. I had seen samples of them, but when I pitched the floors to PDX, I had no idea how to make them. [Laughs.] We made our initial prototypes on a table saw. We cut little sticks and taped them together with Scotch tape.
We bought all the machines from a manufacturer in Germany that specializes in making equipment for edge-grain floors. Then we set up a new facility.
When you say ‘little sticks,’ are you using scrap wood?Yes. Some of it was scrap, and some of it was thin strips of wood we were making into countertops and cutting boards. This wood was piling up [at the sawmill], and it was not something that moved very easily.
Half. The other wood we source from a 60-mile radius around our mill. It’s primarily coming out of other forest restoration projects. I like to use the small leverage that I have, our purchasing power, to incentivize good stewardship and retention of oak on the landscape.
Is your mom still involved in the business?She’s 77, and she’s in the forest every day. She just planted 200 alder seedlings over the last three days.
What did it mean for you and your family to build this floor for PDX?PDX was our first customer [for this edge-grain flooring], and probably the biggest customer we’ll ever have. Now we have this facility, and we’re experimenting with lots of different tree species and different tile patterns, figuring out what all we can do with this technology.
When you look at forestry in Oregon, and where forest management is going, so much of it is about restoring forests. In that restoration work, you’re taking out a lot of little trees to let the forest keep growing. But it's hard to saw them into lumber. The flooring tile that we're making is a phenomenal home for these small trees. We're just starting to scratch the surface of where we can go with this.
By investing in Zena Forest Products, PDX has actually made a long-term investment in forest restoration in Oregon.
Tom Strong - Chief Executive Officer, Skokomish Indian Tribe, Skokomish Washington
"We're foresters in that we're stewards," says Tom Strong, Chief Executive Officer of the Skokomish Indian Tribe, which manages 2,000 acres of Washington forests for its 800 tribal members. "We're not cutting and planting, seeking to develop our lands into a commodity. Instead, we're doing it to restore the forest."
Over the past 100 years, the two dams on the North Fork Skokomish River have had a major impact on the entire ecosystem of Skokomish land. "We want to restore the entire Hood Canal watershed," Tom says. The forests are just one part.
Selling wood from Douglas fir trees the tribe selectively thinned will help fund this restoration. "We don't have an endless amount of money," Tom says. "But we would like to think we've got an endless amount of time."
Ben Hayes - Co-owner, Hyla Woods, Cherry Grove, Oregon
Ben Hayes is a sixth-generation forester who manages Hyla Woods, outside Cherry Grove, Oregon, with his father, Peter. He is also a sustainable-forestry consultant. At Hyla Woods, the Hayes experiment with selective thinning and patch cutting, instead of clear-cutting, to foster diversity of tree species, ages, and sizes.
"When you look 100 years out, having greater complexity in terms of species and the structure of the forest, you can increase the forest's resilience in the face of extreme weather and drought," he says.
"We're working toward a model of forestry that you could practice for the perpetual future,” Ben says. “It's a model that lifts up both rural and urban communities and the ecosystems we rely on."
Richard and Ann Hanschu - Owners, Doneen, Forest Grove, Oregon
Ann Hanschu's father first bought land outside Forest Grove, Oregon, in 1956. Ann grew up trailing her father around the forest, learning from him. The Hanschus now have three children, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Richard says, "We're planting trees that our grandchildren will see the profits from — not even our children. It's long-range thinking."
"A lot of the timber is older,” Ann adds. “We're laddering it with trees of different age groups — some 30-40 years old, some 10-20 years old — so the land can continue to produce a sustainable amount of wood."
Herman Flamenco - Central Cascades Conservation Forester, The Nature Conservancy, Cle Elum, Washington
"We know historically that the stands we're working on were overstocked," says Herman Flamenco, Central Cascades conservation forester for the Nature Conservancy, of the 50,000 acres outside Cle Elum, Washington, the organization manages. Thinning the trees welcomes in light and biodiversity.
Some loggers in the region worry that this low-impact approach to forestry yields less lumber, and less profit, than clear-cutting. One local outfit took on this labor-intensive challenge, selectively harvesting Doug fir trees from steep slopes.
"Western Washington is wetter. In our dry climate, there's less moisture and increased fire risk," Herman says. "As we look at climate change, it's just going to get dryer. We want to make sure we can keep our forests around."
In the 1950s, back when people wore fancy hats to the airport, PDX’s main terminal had brown terrazzo floors.
By the 1970s, blue carpet sporting the old Port of Portland logo replaced the terrazzo. The airport was so concerned about keeping the carpet clean that we banned gum-chewing indoors.
In the 1980s, PDX replaced the ski-chalet paneling in the Clocktower Plaza with high ceilings and skylights, but kept the blue carpet.
SRG Partnership, a Portland-based architecture firm, designed the pattern for the now-iconic carpet on the layout of the airport runways.
The Clocktower Plaza, post-1988, with the iconic carpet.
The Clocktower Plaza (before its demolition in 2021-22) with the new carpet.
The flexible interior spaces were designed with the future of travel in mind — and to give you plenty of comfortable spots to recharge before your next flight.
Two permanent installations from acclaimed contemporary artist Jacob Hashimoto hang like clouds above the concourse’s common areas.
Shops and restaurants are clustered together like city blocks, with a pedestrian-friendly scale and lots of room to spread out.
PDX’s swanky new bar, Juliett, honors women in aviation with mid-20th-century style, top-class cocktails, and local wines and beers.
Sky-high windows fill the interior with daylight while maximizing the concourse extension’s energy efficiency.
At the east end of the concourse, a wall of windows opens up this epic view of Mt. Hood, where you’ll definitely want to pose for a photo before takeoff.
The Concourse E extension project is the dedicated home for Southwest Airlines at PDX, with six new gates.
Remember the view of Mt. Hood on Concourse E? It’s coming back, brighter than ever.
Tillamook’s menu includes the best of the classics with fried cheese curds and a signature grilled cheese.
Calliope takes its name from one of Oregon’s native hummingbirds and showcases creative and playful keepsakes.
Grab your favorite book, magazine or newspaper at Your Northwest Travel Mart.
Concourse B's 38-foot-high ceilings and 6,900 square feet of windows don't just let light in. They let you watch the airport in action. "I think this airport gave us a chance to celebrate the romance of flight," says Gene Sandoval of ZGF, the architecture firm that designed the new concourse.
ZGF Architects was inspired to bring the Pacific Northwest’s natural world indoors. You can contemplate the plants hanging from the ceiling and the Oregon white-oak walls as you relax in B’s comfy new seats. (Bonus: More power adapters!)
RYAN! Feddersen’s art installation, which fills the concourse, is made up of three interconnected pieces. The “Sentinel” landscapes and abstract “Habitat Tiles” are pictured here.
RYAN! is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. She draws inspiration from the region’s traditions and landscape for these pieces, which include the gently rolling “Cloud Walk” overhead.
Nicole and David Mouton, in partnership with HMSHost, opened an outpost of Portland’s beloved Screen Door Restaurant on Concourse B. Find Screen Door’s legendary fried chicken and waffles here from breakfast until dinnertime.
Sam and Nick Purvis, the brothers behind Good Coffee, source fresh coffee beans and teas from all over the world. Pick up a pastry or a bag of beans, too!
Our new rental car center opened in November 2021.
All rental car brands are now on-site at PDX – no more shuttles to pick up your car.
Perez Westbrooks' colorful digital mural celebrates Northwest flora.
Ben Butler's swirling wood sculpture is made from reclaimed Douglas fir.
The new facility also adds 30 ADA parking spots, more than 30 electric vehicle charging stations, and 2,200 long-term parking spaces to the airport.
Adding more lanes to our new, relocated exit toll plaza helps you leave PDX more quickly.
Every design decision we make is about keeping the heart and soul of PDX intact. You’ll see homages to all the things you love about our city and region in the new airport designs.
You’ll notice subtle nods to the Pacific Northwest landscape throughout the space. Natural light, living trees, and native Oregon foliage may give you the feeling of walking through a park.
The new terminal’s wooden ceiling, made from sustainably grown, local Doug fir, might remind you of daylight filtering through forest canopies.
This will be your new view when entering the spacious ticket lobby at PDX. The nine-acre wood roof is so distinctive you’ll be able to spot it from the air.
The ripples and currents of pristine Northwest rivers inspired the new terminal’s curvy profile.
Expanding the heart of PDX creates more space for our beloved local shops and restaurants — not to mention local humans (and visitors, too).