Preservative treatment with borates to achieve termite and decay resistance has the potential to develop new products and markets for post-Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) affected lodgepole pine lumber. Currently there are upwards of 65 treating plants in the USA treating sillplates with borates and a blue dye. Southern pine is normally used for outdoor treated wood applications; hem-fir and Douglas fir are treated for sillplates in the Western USA. Most US treaters are reluctant to treat SPF because of the very low permeability of the spruce (heartwood and sapwood) component and the low permeability of pine and fir heartwood. If they were offered a more treatable product they might be willing to shift to this material instead of treating southern pine or US hem-fir.