D.R. Johnson Has Prairie City Back Up
Officials with D.R. Johnson Lumber report the company’s Prairie City, Ore. sawmill was back up and running the second week in July. Prairie Wood Products, a division of D.R. Johnson Lumber Co., had been idled since 2009 due to economic downturn pressures and a lack of logs. In late spring, D.R. Johnson Lumber officials announced a restart of the sawmill and eventually the restart of an on-site cogeneration plant.
According to Kyle Westbrooks, business development manager for Prairie Wood Products and D.R. Johnson Lumber, the mill was making lumber the week of July 11, concentrating on 8- and 9-ft. studs. He noted the company is taking the project one step at a time and said the cogen plant, which will need some level of re-permitting, would be restarted in the near future.
D.R. Johnson Lumber acquired the Prairie City mill in 1976 and added a stud mill and planer two years later. Founder Don Johnson invested in early computerization systems at the mill, and in the late 1980s the company installed a cogeneration power plant.
Latest News
Housing Starts Come On Like Gangbusters
U.S. housing starts, both single-family and multi-family, came in hot in May at a combined seasonally adjusted rate of 1.631 million, a 21.7% increase above April. Single-family starts in May were at a rate of 997,000 an 18.5% increase over April, and multi-family was 624,000, an increase of 28% over April, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development…
Robbins Lumber Acquires Two Sawmills In Maine
Robbins Lumber, Inc., based in Searsmont, Me., has acquired two sawmills from Pleasant River Lumber Co., expanding the company’s footprint from two locations to four locations. The sawmills in Hancock and Sanford, Maine, will retain all 74 employees between the two locations. The company says the acquisition will allow it to build upon its eastern white pine production, which the…
Luoma Announces Retirement
Longtime executive and manager in the wood products industry, for years with LP, Brian Luoma announced he is retiring at the end of 2023 from his position as president and CEO of The Westervelt Co. Luoma joined Alabama-based Westervelt as president and CEO in 2017, and has been instrumental in the company’s expansion of its lumber and timberlands divisions…
Find Us On Social
Newsletter
The monthly Timber Processing Industry Newsletter reaches over 4,000 mill owners and supervisors.
Subscribe/Renew
Timber Processing is delivered 10 times per year to subscribers who represent sawmill ownership, management and supervisory personnel and corporate executives. Subscriptions are FREE to qualified individuals.
Advertise
Complete the online form so we can direct you to the appropriate Sales Representative.