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The West Coast Lumber Manufacturers Association was incorporated in 1911 in Centralia, Wash., with the merger of the Pacific Coast Lumber Manufacturers Association, the Southwest Washington Lumber Manufacturers Association, and the Oregon and Washington Lumber Manufacturers Association. The new trade association, headquartered in Tacoma, Wash., represented the Douglas fir industry, then centered in western Washington. By 1916 the organization had become the West Coast Lumbermen's Assocation (WCLA), and its offices moved to Seattle, Wash.

By the 1920s, the WCLA had become an important representative for manufacturers of Douglas fir, West Coast hemlock, Western red cedar, and Sitka spruce wood products. In 1928, Colonel William B. Greeley, former chief of the U.S. Forest Service, became the Secretary-Manager of the organization. His reforms brought loggers, wood preservation plants, mill-work plants and other related branches of the industry together into a stronger association. During the 1920s and 1930s, the center of lumber production gradually shifted from Washington to Oregon, and in 1946 the WCLA transferred its headquarters to Portland, Or.

The WCLA was incorporated under the laws of Washington as a stock corporation, with member companies each holding one share. Membership in the association was entirely voluntary. For decades the association was supported by dues assessed on logs and/or lumber produced by member companies. In 1949, the WCLA dues structure was changed to one based solely on lumber production.

The WCLA provided many services to its member companies, one of the most important being the rationalization of the largely chaotic West Coast lumber industry during the 1910s and 1920s. As the industry evolved, the association's activities became more sophisticated, and by the 1950s the WCLA supported its members in many ways. The Traffic Department negotiated with railroad, trucking and shipping lines for favorable freight rates. The Statistical Department produced regular reports about conditions within the West Coast lumber industry. The Accounting Service assisted member companies with accounting, cost analysis, and taxation problems. The Promotion Department produced literature and advertising publications, newspaper and radio spots, motion pictures, and a membership directory to market the products of the West Coast lumber industry. The Technical Service Department, staffed by engineers, conducted research to develop new and improved uses for West Coast lumber products and produced publications such as the Douglas Fir Use Book. The Public Relations Department produced stories and news releases about the positive impact of the lumber industry on the economy of the Pacific Northwest and attempted to counter negative publicity. James Stevens, Public Relations Counsel of the WCLA and author of stories about the legend of Paul Bunyan, produced hundreds of issues of Out of the Woods, a newspaper column about conditions within the industry. The Educational Program Department, which was closely related to Public Relations, provided literature, slides, filmstrips and motion pictures to schools.

The WCLA worked closely with the National Lumber Manufacturers Association (NLMA) and other regional and national organizations to advance the interests of the lumber industry. The West Coast Lumber Inspection Bureau (WCLIB), a separate but closely allied organization to the WCLA, established standard lumber grading rules, maintained uniform grades, trained and supervisied mill graders, licensed mills to use official grade stamps, and issued Certificates of Inspection when requested. The WCLIB concentrated on rail and truck shipments in the domestic and export markets. Another closely allied organization, the Industrial Forestry Association (IFA), promoted forest conservation practices through educational and public relations activities and served as the certifying agency of the tree farm program in the Douglas fir region of western Oregon and western Washington.

By the early 1960s, business leaders determined that a stronger regional association was needed in the face of growing national and international competition in the lumber industry. In 1964, the West Coast Lumbermen's Association merged with the Western Pine Association (WPA), a trade association which represented lumber interests east of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon, Washington and California. A new organization, the Western Wood Products Association (WWPA), was formed from this union, and in 1969 the WCLA was dissolved as a corporation.