POST FALLS - Area forest products professionals are cautiously optimistic - knock on wood - about the outlook of their industry in 2015.

"We've seen a nice improvement from even a couple years ago," said Craig Rawlings, president and CEO of the Forest Business Network, while touring the Purcell Premium Pellets mill north of Post Falls on Tuesday.

Housing starts nationally have gradually increased since hitting bottom at 544,000 in 2009 during the recession, Rawlings said. Starts were at 924,900 in 2013 and nearly 1 million in 2014.

The increase bodes well for the lumber industry, Rawlings said.

However, experts say it will still take another two or three years of growth for starts to reach the 1.4 million average of many years.

Without a reliable and affordable log supply in some areas, experts also say, mills can't respond to increasing demands for wood products. Many trade groups want the U.S. Forest Service to raise its logging budget from the current 2.8 billion board feet gradually to 6 billion - which is still only half of what it was in the 1980s.

The Missoula-based Forest Business Network is helping present the Small Log Conference at The Coeur d'Alene Resort. The event kicked off Tuesday with an industry tour and ends on Thursday.

Rawlings said this winter's weather extremes - ranging from little snow in the West to heavy storms in the Midwest and East - have presented a mixed bag to the industry.

"Builders in the East haven't been able to break ground because of such bad weather," Rawlings said.

But wood pellets used to heat homes such as those made at the Purcell mill have been in high demand in regions blasted by snow.

"There's been pellet shortages, especially in the Northeast where most are consumed," Rawlings said. "The pellet market is so weather-driven."

Jennifer Hedrick, executive director of the nonprofit Pellet Fuels Institute in Arlington, Va., who is also attending the conference, is upbeat about the pellet industry this year.

"The Northeast has had a very brutal winter so we've seen customers struggle to get pellets and the Midwest has had issues with access to feedstock (wood sources used to produce pellets), but the industry has pulled together to make sure customers get products," she said. "Companies out here have been shipping back East to fill needs."

The high demand has meant that the industry is "flourishing," she said.

"We're expecting another strong year and we've just had two," she said.

The situation has the institute encouraging retailers and distributors to buy their products early to avoid drastic and sudden swings in supply and demand.

"They should work with manufacturers year-round to develop contracts," she said.

The tour also included a stop at the Idaho Forest Group sawmill in Lewiston as its new innovative equipment has helped double production.

The tour had more than 100 attendees, including business owners, Japanese and Taiwanese researchers, buyers and trade association representatives.

"It's a nice cross-section and an opportunity to network and see what's happening in the different sectors," Hedrick said.