Bienville Parish in northwest Louisiana will be the home to a new 240-million dollar sawmill. It’s a joint venture between Hunt Forest Products located in Ruston and Canadian-based Tolko Industries. Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson says the project will create 130 direct new jobs and nearly 400 indirect jobs.
“The indirect impact for the forestry industry, for those that do the harvesting, what it means for our pulp and pellet production, all kinds of ways this benefits our economy in Louisiana,” said Pierson.
Pierson says the state-of-the-art sawmill will require about one-point-three-million tons of wood annually to produce an estimated 320-million board feet of lumber.
“And these new computerized lumber mills are so efficient at sizing up the log and knowing how to saw it to get just the right number of 2x12s, 2x6s, or whatever maximizes the value of that timber,” said Pierson.
Hunt Forest Products and Tolko also developed a 115-million dollar lumber Mill in LaSalle Parish. Pierson says that the three-year-old facility employs 120 workers.
“This is further investment, demonstrating that people know and recognize that Louisiana got a great a business environment and this is where they want to put their capital to work,” said Pierson.
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