The expansion is expected to lead to the creation of 55 indirect jobs reports North West Democrat Gazette.

Many of those indirect jobs will relate to transporting logs to the mill from the company’s timberlands and other timberlands, said Anna Torma, PotlatchDeltic vice president of public affairs.

The expansion is expected to help the company cut costs and increase output, growing the mill’s annual capacity from 190 million feet of lumber to about 275 million, according to a PotlatchDeltic news release Monday. Improvements to the mill will include log yard and planer upgrades, a new saw line and a new continuous dry kiln.

The mill will continue operating while improvements are being made, and the project is expected to be completed by 2024. The company has contracted with BID Group for the project.

“We are excited to invest in the Waldo mill and partner with the BID Group to execute on our growth and operational excellence plan to deliver increasing value for our customers, shareholders, and communities,” PotlatchDeltic Vice President of Wood Products AshleeCribb said in an email Monday.

PotlatchDeltic owns three sawmills and almost 950,000 acres of timberland in Arkansas.

The Waldo mill expansion and indirect jobs will benefit the local economies as well, Torma said.

“We are thankful for PotlatchDeltic’s commitment to the timber industry as it is one of South Arkansas’s greatest natural resources,” Magnolia Economic Development Director Ellie Baker said.

“The investment will be felt throughout Columbia County for many many years,” Baker said. “The addition of 55 new indirect jobs will be a direct stimulant to our local economy and my office is committed to increasing the workforce ready population. This is a win for all of Columbia County.”

Rep. Lane Jean, R-Magnolia, said southwestern Arkansas is timber country, and the expansion will have a positive effect on the local economies around the mill. Jean, who has previously served as Magnolia’s mayor and as an Arkansas Department of Economic Development commissioner, also works in the timber industry.

“We’re in the timber belt,” Jean said. “It’s our number one product down here; used to be oil and gas but oil and gas has fallen off a little bit but timber and paper product, or pulp, is our number one product down here.

“It will help the forest owners and the loggers and all the companies that service the equipment, it will definitely be a plus,” Jean said.

“The Waldo investment is an exciting strategic growth opportunity, and it will position the mill among the lowest cost producers in the U.S. South,” PotlatchDeltic President and Chief Executive Officer Eric Cremers said in the release. Cremers also said the investment reflects the company’s belief that “housing fundamentals” will remain strong.

The company announced last week a definitive agreement with CatchMark Timber Trust Inc. to combine the companies in an all-stock transaction, but Torma said the merger with CatchMark will not include Arkansas timberland.

Deltic Timber Corp. of El Dorado was purchased and merged with Potlatch Corp. in 2017, establishing a combined company controlling 2 million acres of timber in Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Idaho and Minnesota. The merged company was renamed PotlatchDeltic Corp. Deltic’s El Dorado operation became the company’s southern operational headquarters.

To read other PotlatchDeltic Corp. posts click here.

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“We are very proud to have finalized this agreement with Dynalyse and Finna Sensors that allows them to promote our state-of-the-art equipments and at the same time will allow us to advertise and sale their innovative products” says Jean Bérubé, Eng., president SmartMill.

“With this agreement, we are able to represent their products in eastern Canada, North-eastern United States and South-eastern US as well”, adds M. Bérubé.

The products concerned by this agreement are a true complement to each other’s functionality and are the following:

·         Finna/Dynalyse: Transverse HD Hybrid moisture/density sorting system. An outstanding tool for sorting heavy and frozen lumber by moisture and density.

·         Finna: Planer moisture systems for optimizing grade recovery and yield.

·         Dynalyse: Dynagrade and Precigrader. Two grading tools allowing Timber Strength Grading and wood’s MOE.

·         SmartMill: FLX-400, a test bench allowing to determine the MOE and the MOR of wood boards.

In this regard, “Finna Sensors is excited to collaborate with SmartMill and Dynalyse to create an ideal combination of systems and service, providing valuable solutions for customers in (Eastern) Canada,” said Jason Kovacik, Sales Manager at Finna Sensors

SmartMill, Dynalyse and Finna Sensors aim to provide high-tech solutions in automation for the wood industry in order to help our clients get the maximum of value of each piece of lumber and maximise their profitability in the process.

About SmartMill

SmartMill is a team of dedicated experts committed to the success of the wood processing industry. SmartMill designs, manufacture and install state-of-the-art automation equipment that is a customizable solution to improve the profitability of its clients located in North America.

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(Gisborne) A hybrid approach of planting both exotics and natives will produce more socio-economic and environmental benefits, says regional leadership governance group Rau Tipu Rau Ora.

At a meeting last week the group presented its “position statement” on managing exotic afforestation incentives consultation submission directly to Minister of Forestry Stuart Nash, who was in Gisborne.

The submisson was made to show the group’s position in relation to the Government proposal, put forward earlier this year, to exclude exotics from the permanent category for Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) incentives, with submissions closing last month.

Pakihiroa Farms Limited general manager and member of the governance group Hilton Collier officially presented the position statement on behalf of Rau Tipu Rau Ora.

“Our RTRO position was that we did not want to take exotics out of the ETS permanent forest category but if exotics are to be excluded from this category, then there are circumstances where they need to be permitted via secondary legislation,” he said.

The submission document said the Government should enable a more mosaic approach to afforestation — such as planting the right tree in the right place, for the right reason. A hybrid approach allowing growth of both exotic and native species at suitable locations would help recover highly-erodible lands in the region.

Mr Collier said soil erosion was a major issue in Tairāwhiti. With most of the region having land use categories of 6,7 and 8, most areas were deemed to be at risk of erosion. The submission document said fast-growing exotic species were necessary to address such problems in specific sites.

“The current MPI Lookup tables show in 16 years of growth, pine sequesters 443 tonnes of carbon versus 137t from indigenous. At the current price of $75/tonne that’s a significant difference in revenue. The only activity on the worst of class 7 and 8 lands is permanent forest. A mixed regime of exotics and natives should provide short-term soil stability allowing for the transition to indigenous over time,” he said.

RTRO co-chair Selwyn Parata said the group supported efficient land use by thinking of sustainability on a long-term basis.

Source: Gisborne Herald

Note:

Gisborne is the first city in the world to greet the sun each morning. Gisborne has a reputation for amazing food, wine / beer and surf beaches. As the unofficial ‘Chardonnay Capital of New Zealand’, Gisborne has a comprehensive wine trail leading to boutique wineries.