Livingston, lumber industry brace for impacts of R-Y Timber closure

By Helena Dore
The Livingston Enterprise
February 16, 2023
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

MONTANA — Setbacks from two separate structure fires forced R-Y Timber, Inc. — one of the largest employers in Livingston — to shut down its sawmill in the town. Now industry experts and local business leaders are bracing for the impacts. …Leslie Feigel, CEO of the Livingston Area Chamber, said the closure is a tragic loss for Livingston and the state. R-Y Timber was the third-largest employer in the town, and it manufactured some 16% of Montana’s lumber supply. …When a mill closes, that also impacts stumpage values on state and federal land, which in turn impacts revenue for Montana public schools, Altemus said. Timber sales and other extractive activities on Montana’s school trust lands generate funding for public schools. To continue to operate, sawmills need a sustainable and steady supply of timber. …For logging contractors, it’s difficult to weather that kind of uncertainty.

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