The 10th Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) lived up to its reputation as a can’t-miss industry event, bringing 470 attendees, 95 exhibitors, and 41 speakers to Omni Atlanta Hotel at Centennial Park on April 16–17.

Co-hosted by Panel World and Georgia Research Institute, the biennial conference—first launched in 2008—offers a timely pulse check on the panel and engineered lumber industries. The 2026 edition reinforced that role, delivering a mix of market realism, strategic clarity, and forward-looking optimism.

PELICE’s milestone 10th event carried added significance, including recognition of 18 exhibitor companies that have participated in all 10 conferences. Co-Chairmen Rich Donnell and Fred Kurpiel reflected on the event’s origins, with Kurpiel credited for first envisioning the conference and partnering with Panel World nearly two decades ago.

The audience included representatives from 25 producer companies, with executive leadership on hand to address a rapidly evolving business environment.

Leadership Perspectives: Strategy, Culture, and Discipline

Georgia-Pacific: Building Value Through People

David Neal, Executive Vice President of Building Products, Georgia-Pacific, opened with a message centered on culture and long-term value creation.

Neal emphasized the company’s “Principle Based Management” framework, rooted in stewardship and human progress, noting the importance of internal development and external relationships: “Building relationships and trust” remains fundamental to both business success and community impact.

He highlighted employees who rose through the organization, reinforcing how long-term investment in people translates into stronger partnerships and evolving customer solutions.

Boise Cascade: Staying Focused in a Volatile Market

Rob Johnson, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing Operations at Boise Cascade, addressed the company’s evolution into one of North America’s largest producers of engineered wood products.

Despite market pressures, Boise has resisted broad diversification, instead leaning into its core strengths: “We are an EWP-focused business. We consider plywood a byproduct of strength-rated veneer production.”

Johnson also pointed to the company’s integrated distribution model as a stabilizing force, helping smooth financial performance across fluctuating markets.

Roseburg: Billion-Dollar Investments, Tight Execution

Fresh off announcing the restart of construction on a new medium-density fiberboard (MDF) facility in Oregon, Jim Salchenberg of Roseburg detailed a sweeping capital investment strategy.

From 2021–2024, the company approved more than 400 projects totaling $1.1 billion, delivering them within 3% of budget despite post-pandemic challenges.

Salchenberg distilled that success into three principles: “Own the budget… protect the scope relentlessly… and never accept ‘it takes what it takes, and it costs what it costs.’”

Engineered Wood: A Structural Shift, Not a Cycle

One of the clearest themes at PELICE 2026 was the accelerating role of engineered wood products (EWP).

Lofton Beasley of Weyerhaeuser framed the shift in unmistakable terms: “These forces are structural, not cyclical.”

He pointed to long-term changes in construction, including labor shortages, demand for speed and predictability, and increasing reliance on prefabricated systems. These trends are driving adoption of engineered solutions that reduce variability and improve efficiency.

Beasley emphasized that EWP is central to long-term strategy. “The message is clear: EWP is not peripheral. It is a central mechanism for translating timberland strength into durable, higher-return growth.”

Weyerhaeuser is backing that strategy with capacity expansion, including a new TimberStrand facility designed to convert lower-quality logs into higher-value products.

Housing Market Reality: Short-Term Pressure, Long-Term Opportunity

Market analysis from Chris Beard of John Burns Research and Consulting provided a grounded look at demand drivers.

“New construction is the near-term drag,” Beard said, pointing to elevated housing inventory and slower starts. However, the broader picture is more nuanced.

With the median U.S. home now 44 years old, aging housing stock is fueling a surge in repair and remodeling activity—now rivaling new construction in total spending.

Beard highlighted several tailwinds, including rising home equity levels, larger tax refunds supporting renovation spending, and increasing frequency of disaster-related repairs. 

While new construction may soften in the near term, Beard said forecasts point to a rebound beginning in 2027.

Market Dynamics: Shifting Materials and Global Pressure

Guillermo Velarde of AFRY Management Consulting outlined broader structural changes across panel markets:

• OSB continues to gain share due to cost and performance advantages

• Plywood faces ongoing substitution pressure

• Particleboard markets are tightening under competition from large-scale European producers

• MDF investments are ramping up, with new capacity expected to compete more effectively with imports

AFRY’s recommendations focused on operational efficiency, supply chain optimization, and product diversification as key levers for future competitiveness.

In addition to keynote sessions, PELICE 2026 featured deep dives into:

• Artificial Intelligence in manufacturing

• Catastrophe and risk management

• Wood fiber sourcing and optimization

• Veneer and plywood production advances

• Fire and safety technologies

• Mass timber construction

• Energy use and emissions reduction

Nearly two decades after its launch, PELICE continues to fulfill its original mission: Bringing the industry together to share knowledge, confront challenges, and identify opportunities.

The 2026 event made one thing clear, while markets may fluctuate, the industry is actively adapting through innovation, disciplined investment, and a sharpened strategic focus on engineered solutions.

As Lofton Beasley put it, the forces shaping the future aren’t temporary—they’re foundational.

And based on the energy in Atlanta, the industry is ready to meet them head-on.

Gresham House, a specialist alternative asset manager, has announced an agreement to acquire a majority interest in Mississippi-based Molpus Woodlands Group, creating one of the world’s largest timberland investment managers with approximately $8 billion of forestry assets under management (AUM). Financial terms were not disclosed, and the transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Gresham House, with $5 billion of forestry AUM, and Molpus Woodlands Group, with $3 billion forestry AUM, will together form the third largest Timberland Investment Manager, globally with operations in the UK, Ireland, U.S., Australia and New Zealand, managing over 2.2 million acres.

Molpus Woodlands Group’s existing leadership team comprising Terrell Winstead, Michael Cooper, George Dahduh, Tyler Rosamond, Chad McElvany, and Ashley Harris will continue to lead operations in the U.S. They will also join the Gresham House global executive management team and investment committees for the enlarged forestry platform alongside members of the Gresham House executive team. The Molpus team will continue in their current role and will maintain day-to-day operations, investment process and client service. The combined business will remain privately owned, aligning employee incentives with client outcomes.

Tony Dalwood, Gresham House CEO comments, “The Molpus Woodlands Group team brings outstanding on-the-ground forestry expertise, a demonstrated track record, and deep client relationships in their local markets, which are a key area of growth for us.”

Gresham House and Molpus Woodlands Group have raised approximately $2.5 billion in timberland mandates since 2020, including more than $1billion in 2025. With global LP investors increasingly recognising natural capital as an asset class, the ability to offer a fully global service aims to set the business apart as the go-to-manager for institutional investors in this space.

A defining strength of both businesses is the specialization in silviculture. Forestry assets are managed through deep, on-the-ground expertise integrated with institutional investment processes and new technology, for example with geographic information systems management (GIS), to maximize forestry income and capital. This approach, rooted in biological growth, land stewardship and long-term value creation, provides a robust platform.

The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins has announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has finalized a rule modernizing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. This Final Rule adopts the changes introduced in the Interim Final Rule published on July 3, 2025, which consolidated seven agency-specific NEPA regulations into a single, department-wide framework, reducing the overall volume of regulations by 66%. This major action is also a linchpin in Secretary Rollins’ broader Deregulatory Agenda for the U.S. Agriculture and Consumers.

“NEPA is a procedural statute meant to ensure the government considers reasonable environmental analysis before making a final decision,” says Deputy Secretary Vaden. “It has morphed into the greatest roadblock to everything from protecting our National Forests from devastating wildfires to constructing much needed roadways. With this reform, we return NEPA to its intended role of requiring analysis and unleash the ability of USDA to once again get the American people’s work done.”

For years, USDA agencies observed how overregulation turned the NEPA process into a form of bureaucratic overreach that hindered American innovation, eliminated jobs, and increased costs for Americans. The changes in the Final Rule restore USDA’s NEPA implementation to its core purpose: ensuring federal agencies consider environmental impacts while maintaining the flexibility needed for efficient permitting and faster delivery of critical USDA services and funding relied on by farmers, ranchers, loggers, and rural communities.

Rayonier will maintain the Rayonier name after a thorough review of alternatives following its recent merger of equals with PotlatchDeltic, while also introducing a new corporate logo that reflects a fresh brand identity for the combined company.

“In a spirit of collaboration following our transformative merger of equals, we considered numerous alternatives for a new company name,” says Mark McHugh, President & CEO. “We also considered the rich history, considerable brand equity, and established market presence of both the legacy Rayonier and PotlatchDeltic corporate brands. Ultimately, the new Board of Directors and senior leadership team of the combined company agreed that the new organization would be best served by retaining the name ‘Rayonier,’ while also introducing a refreshed corporate logo that reflects the beginning of a new era as a combined company. This approach will allow us to honor our proud history and leverage our strong brand equity among stakeholders, while also mitigating the cost, complexity and potential risk of confusion in adopting an entirely new corporate identity.” 

Rayonier owns nearly 4.2 million acres of forests across 11 U.S. states, with a strong presence in the U.S. South and Northwest, and operates six sawmills, an industrial-grade plywood mill, residential and commercial real estate developments, and a rural land sales program.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Forest Service (FS) has announced it will move its headquarters to Salt Lake City, Ut., and begin a sweeping restructuring of the agency to move leadership closer to the forests and communities it serves.

Secretary Brooke L. Rollins says, “Establishing a western headquarters in Salt Lake City and streamlining how the Forest Service is organized will position the Chief and operation leaders closer to the landscapes we manage and the people who depend on them.”

Alongside the relocation of its headquarters, the FS will begin transitioning to a state-based organizational model designed to shift authority closer to the field by organizing leadership around state-level accountability, supported by shared operational service centers and a unified national research enterprise.

Under the new model, 15 state directors will be distributed throughout the country to oversee FS operations within one or more states. State directors will serve as national leaders with primary oversight of forest supervisors, operational priorities, and relationships with states, tribes, and other partners. Each state office will include a small leadership support team responsible for functions such as legislative affairs, communications, and intergovernmental coordination.

This approach is intended to simplify the chain of command, strengthen local partnerships, and give field leaders greater ability to respond to conditions on the ground.

“This is about building a Forest Service that is nimble, efficient, effective and closer to the forests and communities it serves,” says Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz. “Effective stewardship and active management are achieved on the ground, where forests and communities are found—not just behind a desk in the capital. Through this transition, we will strengthen our connection to the forests and the people who depend on them, while supporting our employees and honoring the dedication that has always defined our service. I’m honored to help guide this new chapter for the Forest Service, following the vision set forth by President Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot more than a century ago.”

As the agency transitions to the state-based model, the FS will shift many functions currently housed in regional offices to a network of operational service centers that will be established in Albuquerque, NM; Athens, Ga.; Fort Collins, Colo.; Madison, Wis.; Missoula, Mont.; and Placerville, Calif.. Additional service center locations may be added as the transition progresses.

The FS will also consolidate leadership of its research enterprise. The agency currently operates multiple geographically dispersed research stations, each with its own leadership structure. Under the reorganization, the FS will bring those stations together under a single FS research organization, located in Fort Collins, Colo. These changes are designed to unify research priorities, accelerate the application of science to management decisions, and reduce administrative duplication. 

Under this reorganization, the agency’s Fire and Aviation Management program will retain its existing Geographic Area Coordination Center structure, which remains the backbone of national incident coordination. There will be no interruption or change to our field-based operational firefighters or their positions. The program will continue reporting to the Deputy Chief for Fire and Aviation Management at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Id. This structure ensures the agency’s ongoing, close coordination with the Department of the Interior and interagency partners. It will reinforce the unified, national approach essential to effective wildland fire response until the FS’s wildland fire management operations are unified into the U.S. Wildland Fire Service (USWFS) within the Department of the Interior (DOI).

The restructuring will also drive a review and consolidation of facilities nationwide. As part of this transition, all regional offices will close; however, several facilities will be retained to support ongoing mission needs. Additional phases of the reorganization, including the formal elimination of regional and station office structures and the full transition to a state-based model, will be implemented over the coming year.

The agency’s retained facilities will support essential functions during and after the transition, with the facility in Juneau, Ala. serving as a state office, the facility in Vallejo, Calif. repurposed as a national training center, and the facility in Albuquerque, NM retained as a business support service center and state office.

The Forest Service will provide employees and partners with detailed transition guidance as different milestones approach.