Wood grinders hummed and blades whirred under the weak winter sun Thursday afternoon as 12 men hustled to transform dozens of ponderosa pine logs into boards, wood chips and sawdust at Newpac Fibre. The Williams-based sawmill is heading into its third month of production and is in the midst of major expansion and reconstruction work.
If there are dreams of a renewed forest products industry in northern Arizona, this is one of the places where they become reality. As he showed visitors around the mill, company CEO Chris Stephan’s eyes gleamed with the promise of the new venture.
When it comes to the future of the wood products industry, most of the attention is on the Four Forest Restoration Initiative, the 2.4 million-acre project covering much of the state’s ponderosa pine forests. In addition to restoring forest health, the U.S. Forest Service has estimated that the first 1 million-acre phase of the project will produce 1,615 forest-related jobs and in total could bring millions of dollars in economic impact to nearby communities.
But as the project has progressed, the results have been more of a mixed bag, with some companies being forced to close or pause operations because the Forest Service is moving too slowly on offering logging and stewardship contracts, even though the project’s goal to accelerate restoration.
Even so, some companies are pushing ahead with major investments in the area. Newpac Fibre has invested millions into its sawmill while the owners of a biomass energy plant in Snowflake will soon be starting up a new sawmill on their property. The businesses are proceeding with a cautious yet necessary optimism that the revitalization of northern Arizona’s forest industries that 4FRI promised to spark will actually come true.
From the Arizona Daily Sun: http://azdailysun.com/news/local/hoping-for-a-forest-industry-revival/article_eb3622ab-fbc9-58c2-a89e-128a16096fa9.html