MEMPHIS, TN—International Paper announced formal plans to invest approximately $103 million to build and operate two natural gas power boilers to generate steam for its Containerboard Mill in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Construction is set to begin in the second quarter of this year and be fully operational by the end of 2025. The project will result in the addition of seven new positions, bringing the mill’s total employment to 247. Additionally, roughly 100 construction jobs will be created to support the build during the estimated project timeline. “This investment is a direct reflection of the Cedar River Mill team members hard work and dedication to our customers and reflects the Company’s commitment to the community and our Industrial Packaging business,” said Jay Royalty, Senior Vice President, Containerboard, International Paper.
MALVERN, ARKANSAS – Arkansas State University Three Rivers was gifted $150,000 from timber company, West Fraser, to be received over the next three years. The two entities first established their partnership in 2017 when ASU Three Rivers began providing leadership training for the four Arkansas West Fraser mills. As a result of the success of that training, the partnership grew to developing West Fraser’s millwrights and electricians. The College provides the West Fraser Qualified Millwright and Electrician Training Program for West Fraser employees in the US South. “At West Fraser, we value our relationship with ASU Three Rivers and recognize the important role it plays in developing people, providing skilled graduates and building a successful community by offering programs that are accessible and responsive to the diverse needs of students, business and the region,” Chester Fort, Vice President, US Lumber, West Fraser said.
The warm winter weather is not just a problem for snowmobilers and skiers, it’s also keeping loggers out of the woods. Dana Doran of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine says loggers depend on frozen ground to cut wood without eroding soils, so winter is usually go time for logging contractors. “This year is completely different, it’s almost a 180, we’re in the middle of what seems to be mud season conditions right now, and for the last couple of weeks. A lot of contractors, I’d say the majority of them, have had to shut down for long periods of time,” Doran says many mill yards at both pulp and paper plants and sawmills are virtually empty, at a time of year when they should be brimming with wood.
The chief goal of the Southern Group of State Foresters (SGSF) is to ensure the health and sustainability of the South’s nearly 250 million acres of forestland. Rapid population growth and resulting urbanization, however, is putting 23 million acres of southern forestland at risk of loss. This statistic, though, does not need to be a death sentence for southern forests. Research has shown the presence of markets for forest products helps landowners manage their forests, adds value to their forests and helps maintain forest profitability so that landowners can keep their forests as forests. In the South, private landowners own 86 percent of southern forestland. Two-thirds of these landowners are families and individuals. SGSF continues to promote traditional and emerging markets for forests products. …Recent legislation in support of forests includes… the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act which combined are an unprecedented investment in our nation’s forests. 
BERLIN, New Hampshire — Since the mid-1800s, the economy of Berlin, New Hampshire, known as “The City that Trees Built,” revolved around the paper mill located in the heart of the city. Therefore, it was a devastating blow when the Fraser Paper pulp mill closed in 2006, as the community of Berlin and the rest of the region were dependent on the mill as a critical employer. “In 2008, an opportunity arose to bring new life to the shuttered mill by converting its existing black liquor boiler into a state-of-the-art, 75-MW biomass power generating facility, and Burgess BioPower was born,” says Sarah Boone, vice president of public affairs for Burgess BioPower. “Today, Burgess BioPower delivers 500,000 megawatt hours of local, clean and reliable power to New Hampshire annually, along with acting as an economic driver in the state’s North Country and beyond.” …Today, Burgess BioPower is the largest single buyer of biomass in the state. 
BETHESDA, Md.–Enviva Inc., the world’s leading producer of sustainably sourced woody biomass, today issued the following statement regarding the 