OAKDALE, Louisiana – Martco, parent company for timber sourcing and manufacturing company RoyOMartin, announced it will invest more than $30 million to install technologically advanced production equipment at its Allen Parish plant that produces oriented strand board for the housing industry The RoyOMartin OSB plant is one of the parish’s largest employers, and as a result of this expansion, the company will retain its 232 full-time employees who earn an annual average salary of $75,000. Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will also result in nearly 600 indirectly supported jobs in the state, for a total of 831 retained and indirectly supported jobs. …RoyOMartin has its headquarters in Alexandria and additional plants in Chopin, Louisiana, and Corrigan, Texas. To win the Oakdale project, Louisiana Economic Development offered a competitive incentive package that includes a performance-based Retention and Modernization Tax Credit valued at $455,400.
ALABAMA — Canfor Corporation announced that it will optimize its footprint in southern Alabama by permanently closing its Jackson facility and expanding production at its Fulton facility with a second shift. These steps, together with the previously announced construction of a new, state-of-the art greenfield sawmill in Axis, will grow the Company’s regional manufacturing platform by 100 million board feet of production capacity and consolidate operations at modern facilities that are well positioned to be competitive for the long-term. …Lee Goodloe, President, Canfor Southern Pine said, “To this end, we are making the difficult decision to close the aging Jackson mill at the end of June, while expanding production at our nearby Fulton facility. …We expect the majority of our [Jackson] employees will have an opportunity at either our expanded operation in Fulton, which will add a second shift, or in Axis once the new facility opens later this year.”
PERRY, Florida. (WCTV) – West Fraser’s sawmill in Perry is closing down at the end of March. …Joyce Wagenaar, Director of Communications said, “Following the decision in January 2023 to indefinitely curtail the Perry Sawmill in Florida, West Fraser is now moving to permanently close the mill by the end of March, 2024. The few remaining workers will complete their last shifts this week. High fiber costs at Perry and a low-price commodity environment have impaired its ability to profitably operate. Prior to the indefinite curtailment announcement in January 2023, the Perry Sawmill employed approximately 126 people.” In a 
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Despite the recent rain it still is fire season in New York State, and crews from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and other agencies remain hard at work managing forests – performing what are known as prescribed burns. Forest Rangers with the DEC, like Captain Ryan Wickens, use these controlled burns as they’re also referred, to maintain forests and remove excess burnable material that could help a wildfire spread. That’s not always the primary goal. In many cases these burns can help pave the way for a healthier ecosystem. “What that fire does is, right before those warm season native grasses start to grow, we set fire to the old organic material. And any weeds that would have popped up early in that cooler weather, they get burnt,” said Captain Wickens. “It dumps the nutrients back into the soil. So you get a lot of nitrogen. Phosphorus, things like that.”
VERMONT – I’m writing to express my dismay at the misinformation again being spread about the Telephone Gap timber project. Timber harvesting on the Green Mountain National Forest is good for Vermont and the environment. Stopping harvesting is not a magic bullet to stop climate change, an incredibly complex problem with many possible pieces to the solution. Yelling “Stop harvesting timber and save the planet” makes for a catchy headline and pushes some fundraising but misses the mark. For more on our thinking about timber harvesting go to the Vermont Forest Products Association website video page: vtfpa.org/videos. I have been working in the forest products industry my entire 49-year career. I have learned that trees 80 to 150 years old are in the prime range for harvesting, providing the best quality forest products and fitting in with sound management practices. We harvest trees in that age range regularly and produce vibrantly healthy forests as a result.
GOLD HILL, North Carolina — Working Lands Trust (WLT), a key advocate for the conservation of North Carolina’s forestry legacy, proudly announces the receipt of a transformative $382,605.62 grant from the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. This funding will bolster WLT’s tireless efforts towards forestry stewardship, community empowerment, and the support of military resilience within the Eastern North Carolina Sentinel Landscape. The awarded grant will underpin an initiative designed to support and bolster opportunities for forestry centric programming within North Carolina’s rural and BIPOC communities. The project will be implemented in collaboration with esteemed partners including the Eastern North Carolina Sentinel Landscape, the North Carolina Foundation for Soil and Water Conservation, the Sustainable Forestry and Land Retention Project, the Land Loss Prevention Project, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the National Woodland Owners Association.
HERNANDO COUNTY, Fla. — The Florida Forest Service is deploying new drone technology to help fight fires and control prescribed wildfires. New legislation permits the Florida Forest Service to use American-made drones. Each drone is equipped with a series of chemical-infused balls that — upon deployment — fill with anti-freeze. The mixture causes a chemical reaction inside the ball, starting a fire. It’s changing the way firefighters are conducting prescribed burns. “It’s just going to make it safer for our folks not being entrapped,” said Keith Mousel, Withlacoochee Center Manager for the Florida Forest Service. “Not having to deal with the heat, fatigue, and the dangers that go with walking through unburnt woods.” …The drones will be used by firefighters across seven different districts, ranging from the Alabama state line down to Fort Myers.
Nearly five years ago, New York state passed an ambitious climate law intended to reduce and counteract fossil fuel emissions contributing to climate change. Storing carbon dioxide, a gas released from burning fuel, is key to achieving the goals outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Much of that can be accomplished through protecting carbon-absorbing forests across the state. Although the Adirondacks has millions of acres of forest, most land in the state is privately owned. Which puts a critical network of interconnected properties at risk of development. To achieve goals set in the climate act, experts say the state needs to roughly double the size of its carbon sink by fostering new forests and avoiding further loss. Researchers with the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry developed an accounting system with detailed satellite imagery to help agencies identify where forests are most vulnerable.
In March, Enviva, the world’s largest woody biomass producer for industrial energy, declared bankruptcy. That cataclysmic collapse triggered a rush of political and economic maneuvering in the US, and in Europe. …While Enviva publicly claims it will survive the bankruptcy, a whistleblower in touch with sources inside the company says it will continue failing to meet its wood pellet contract obligations, and that its production facilities — plagued by chronic systemic manufacturing problems — will continue underperforming. Enviva and the forestry industry appear now to be lobbying the Biden administration, hoping to tap into millions in renewable energy credits under the Inflation Reduction Act — a move environmentalists are resisting. …Meanwhile, some EU nations are scrambling to find new sources of wood pellets to meet their sustainable energy pledges under the Paris agreement. The UK’s Drax, an Enviva pellet user, is positioning itself to greatly increase its pellet production in the U.S. South.