NewLife Forest Restoration has ramped up production at its new engineered wood products plant in Bellemont, Ariz., while also increasing forest restoration work in service of its 4 Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) Phase 1 Forest Service stewardship contract that seeks to thin and treat more than 300,000 acres at risk of wildfire on the Kaibab, Coconino, Apache-Sitgreaves and Tonto national forests.

At Bellemont, the operation is currently processing low-grade cants into 1 in. lumber that’s chopped and fingerjointed and a portion is edge-glued and/or face-glued, while using structural and non-structural glues depending on the application, according to Ted Dergousoff, CEO of NewLife. They are presently using cants because the sawmill with log breakdown hasn’t been built yet.

The EWP plant is part of a much larger 425,000 sq. ft. formerly vacated facility (10 acres under one roof) that NewLife purchased in 2020. It is divided into three sections—one for the currently operating EWP plant, and the other two for the sawmill and planer mill to be built. Dry kilns will also be located on the grounds. The operation has rail access and is situated on I-40, a major truck route.

NewLife has designed the scale of the plant to accommodate upgrading products, not just from its own mills, but also from other operators in the area. In this way, many parties can work together on forest restoration, enabling the industry to scale up in the state.

Dergousoff expects NewLife’s multiple operations to be fully built by the end of 2022. The sawmill will have an annual production capacity of 120MMBF, 100% ponderosa pine, with emphasis on boards (both solid and engineered) and low-grade specialty solid items.

The sawmill will handle a mix of large and small logs, and its plan to maximize value will help offset costs incurred processing and handling the large amounts of biomass the contract is generating.

Awarded the Phase 1 contract in 2013, NewLife had struggled initially considering the state’s timber infrastructure had almost disappeared following federal timber sale cutbacks in the 1980s and ‘90s, and the company was starting from scratch in setting up harvesting and processing capacity. New Life had initially planned a greenfield sawmill at a site in Williams, Ariz., but switched to Bellemont after a large former paper products finishing plant industrial building became available.

The sawmill will handle a mix of large and small logs, and its plan to maximize value will help offset costs incurred processing and handling the large amounts of biomass the contract is generating.

NewLife has tripled the size of its forest restoration operations in light of these developments with three forest thinning crews now active and a fourth crew mobilizing. Each crew is capable of restoring 2,000-2,500 acres per year. NewLife plans to gradually increase to 25,000-plus acres of restoration capacity over the next 18-24 months as it completes installations at Bellemonte.

NewLife and its partners are operating a total of nine harvesting crews in Arizona with a combined capacity of 20,000 acres per year. In 2023, they will ramp up to more than 17 forest restoration crews with more than 40,000 acres per year of restoration capacity. The company and its partners plan to hire more than 300 skilled workers across manufacturing and forest harvesting in the next 12 months.

The 4FRI is a groundbreaking forest health effort seeking to reduce wildfire risk on 2.4 million acres across four Arizona national forests. A larger Phase 2 contract covering the restoration of up to 600,000 acres over 20 years is expected to be awarded soon. NewLife is reportedly one of several entities interested in gaining the contract.

“I do think that the only way that forest restoration can work is with a vertically integrated process,” Dergousoff says, emphasizing NewLife’s capabilities “to make it all work in unison with a goal to maximize value.”

 

The same labor availability issues that have plagued forest products manufacturers since the COVID pandemic began are also plaguing builders as the economy seeks to rebound. According to a survey of more than 2,000 construction companies, both hourly and salaried employees are currently very hard to find—a sentiment shared by many employers.

In an August survey, the trade group Associated General Contractors of America (AGCA) surveyed more than 2,100 construction firms around the country and found 91% were having trouble filling construction trade craft positions, while almost as many (87%) said salaried employees were hard to find as well.

The situation is ongoing for builders who have already been beset by materials price increases and availability in addition to labor issues since the COVID pandemic began. According to the survey, 88% of firms are experiencing project delays.

Three-quarters of builders cite longer lead times-material shortages for project delays, 61% cite labor shortages for and 57% said delivery delays compounded project problems.

Labor and materials issues surrounding the construction industry have broader implications since resulting delays act as a drag on the U.S. housing market and plans for large federal infrastructure projects.

According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for July, the number of unfilled construction positions is going down slowly, but 321,000 construction industry jobs remain unfilled.

 

Ashlee Cribb Succeeds Tom Temple At Potlatch

PotlatchDeltic Corp. has appointed Ashlee Cribb as Vice President, Wood Products. She succeeds Tom Temple, who is retiring in October after serving in this role since 2009.

“We are thrilled to welcome Ashlee,” comments Eric Cremers, PotlatchDeltic President and CEO. “Ashlee brings extensive knowledge and a strong track record with over 30 years of industry experience including positions at Georgia-Pacific LLC and Roseburg Forest Products.”

Most recently Cribb served as the senior vice president, chief commercial officer at Roseburg Forest Products based in Springfield, Ore., and prior to that held leadership roles in Roseburg’s Structural Products business. She has an MBA from Washington University, St. Louis, and earned her chemical engineering undergraduate degree at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

“I am looking forward to engaging with the team and continuing a strong commitment to the core values of the company, including excellence in safety,” Cribb says. “The PotlatchDeltic mills are well positioned and I am excited to execute on continued growth and operational excellence to deliver value for our customers, shareholders and communities.”

Doug Asano Steps Up At Roseburg As New Senior VP—Sales & Marketing

Roseburg Forest Products has named Doug Asano as Senior Vice President—Sales and Marketing. He replaces former SVP Ashlee Cribb; Asano transitions from his previous role as director of sales excellence.

“We wish Ashlee all the best in her new opportunity, and we are excited to have someone of Doug’s caliber, scope and experience available to step in immediately,” Roseburg President and CEO Grady Mulbery says. “It’s a reflection of the bench strength we have built as a company over the past several years. We anticipate a transition that allows us to move forward smoothly.”

Asano joined Roseburg in August 2020 after serving as a vice president for nine years with Huber Engineered Wood. At Huber, he brought innovation and transition to national accounts, sales and marketing, all of which fit with his new position at Roseburg. His new role will encompass the entire Commercial Team, including Sales, Distribution, Marketing, and Supply Chain and Logistics.

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Equipment and technology supplier Ledinek reports it has been selected to supply a CLT line for a new venture, Arboreal, in Tacuarembó, Uruguay.

In March 2021, businessman Mark Crandall from the United States and Matías Abergo, CEO of construction systems firm Enkel Group from Uruguay, established Arboreal upon the acquisition of Frutifor Lumber Co., a pine sawmill in Tacuarembó.

They announced an immediate investment in the sawmill’s drying capacity, doubling production to 250,000 m³, while also announcing the implementation of the largest and most advanced CLT plant in South America, with production capacity initially at 50,000 m³ per year. Installation is scheduled for the beginning of 2022.

Arboreal’s investment contributes to the generation of added value from Uruguay’s forest resources, boosting industrial activity in the northern part of the country and promoting the development of environmentally sustainable construction.

“Uruguay has very competitive forestry resources,” comments Abergo as Arboreal President. “When we envision the future, we see mass timber as a solution to reduce CO2 emission by 2030. The construction sector is responsible for almost 40% of the greenhouse gases; this plant is the first step to reduce and sequestrate CO2. We need to start thinking about our homes as big CO2 warehouses.”

Abergo adds: “When selecting the supplier for the CLT line, Arboreal needed to rely on a provider like Ledinek with many years of experience in the market and is capable of providing state-of-the-art machines. Choosing Ledinek as a supplier was a strategic decision; a project of this scale has never been done before in South America.”