Derek is a pretty skookum guy. A while back he said the Saratoga Mill had reopened. I hate to confess that I doubted him, because the entire time I worked in Region 2 it was on the horizon.. but always on the horizon, sort of a sawmill Holy Grail. I also thought I would have seen it in a news clip.
Derek, I apologize.
So, sure enough, I went to a field hearing today at the State Capitol (more later on that) and who did I run into also looking for the meeting room, but one of the folks who runs the now open Saratoga mill. How did I miss that?
So I looked on the trusty internet and found this… on USA Today of all places!
Here’s the link and below is an excerpt.
A HARD FALL
The housing downturn hit the wood products and timber industries hard.
At the height of the housing boom in 2005, consumption of U.S. lumber hit almost 65 billion board feet. It fell to about half that at the bottom of the market in 2010. Last year, it climbed back to 37.5 billion and will likely pass 40 billion this year, FEA estimates.
With rising demand, a few lumber mills are roaring back to life. Out of 146 North American lumber mills closed since 2008, 14 have reopened or announced plans to do so, says industry analyst Paul Jannke. Five are in the U.S., including the one in Evergreen, and others are in Alabama, Wyoming, Virginia and Colorado. The rest are in Canada.
Other mills are reopening, too, including those making plywood and oriented strand board, a plywood competitor.
This summer, Toronto’s Norbord expects to reopen an OSB mill in Jefferson, Texas, that has been closed since 2009, the company says.
Rising prices are a big motivator. OSB prices are up 134% since the end of 2011, Jannke says. Framing lumber prices are up 64%, according to the composite index kept by the Random Lengths industry newsletter. Plywood prices are up 43%.
“Prices are strong enough that we can make a profit,” says Gary Ervin, owner of Saratoga Forest Management. In January, it reopened a mill in Saratoga, Wyo., that makes studs used to frame houses. The mill had been closed for 10 years. It now employs 80.
None of the reopened mills are especially large, but neither are their communities. Saratoga, population 1,678, describes itself as a place “where the trout leap in Main Street.”
How could you ever doubt me Sharon! I saw it reopening in a dream…and of course…it was also in the paper 6 months ago! Some quick useless info on Saratoga. The mill closed in 2003…for a lack of FS timber! The Medicine Bow (Rouett) used to sell 30 MMBF/year, but for the five years ending in 2003 the USFS only sold an average of 7 MMBF/year. The enviro group “Biodiversity Conservation Alliance” from Laramie had litigated the MBNF to death…but that has all ended. In 2008, with the wonderful MPB epidemic starting to bloom, the Medicine Bow sold 50 MMBF. For the last five years ending in 2012…they were right back up to a yearly average of 34 MMBF. Of course some of that was defaulted…but I think you get my drift.When I drove through Laramie…they were loading logs onto flatcars of the UP…where to I know not.
The BCA hasn’t litigated any of it. I have to wonder, pure speculation of course, if they derive “a lot” of their “revenue” from Colorado and were told to stop. Either that or they want their roads cleared of dead trees. I drove through the “Snowies” on the gravel roads a couple summers ago…and it was spooky…dodging the deadfall in the road. I was just happy the wind wasn’t blowin!(hmmm…the blow down phase should be beginning soon eh).
I might add that they’re paying less than $10.00/ MBF for stumpage…and only about a quarter of the total is “non-saw”(which is goin for a few bucks)..while Montana is paying…oh…$100/MBF.(Now you know how they buy the deisel fuel Sharon) sounds like a smart business move to me. Of course, it’s a little different buying a bankrupt mill for pennies on the dollar, versus building a new one with a 20 year mortgage.And of course…how long will the dead LP be good for? And then what…hell the spruce all died in a spruce epidemic 10 years ago! The only “green islands” are the regen clearcuts.
It’s just too bad the OSB mill in Kremmling, 50 miles from Breckenridge, was run out of town in the mid 90’s…over cries of “below cost timber sales.” Of course, the $800/acre the USFS has been paying logggers to clearcut around Breckenridge is what I really call “below cost timber” sales!(now you know how they pay for the deisel fuel to get to the mill in Montrose)
Anyway…good for the BCA, good for Colorado, good for the new owners, and good for forestry.You might just get your 2500 miles of roads and 750 miles of powerlines cleared.
PS..You simply MUST go stay at the charming “Saratoga Hot springs” resort. It’s a wonderfull throw back to the 50’s…the water is a soothing relief from the rhuematoid…but the whine from the mill might just keep you awake!
Hate to rain on your timber industry celebration parade, but 37.5 billion board feet is 57.6% of 65 billion board feet….And 14 timber mills of 146 closed timber mills is 9.5% (and some of those 14 timber mills haven’t even reopened) and most any timber forecast/projection for the past 6 years has fallen flat to economic realities. Yep, over-consumption/over-development ain’t never coming back like it was. Can you say “new normal?”
Whining from a mill is the sound of employed people.. music to my ears. LIke the coal trains bumping their way into the Coors plant near my house.
Ah, yes, music to the ears….
Just like the future sounds of Arch’s Coal’s proposed mega Otter Creek Coal Mine, which will displace Amish families and other family ranchers from their lands in southeastern Montana so the Mars Candy guy can build a railroad to ship all that coal through hundreds of communities in Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon via 40 massive Coal Trains that will measure miles in length. Best not to have a heart attack while the coal train is tying up the tracks and all the crossings in your community. Also, make sure your house doesn’t start on fire at the wrong time, as the fire department may have to wait 15 minutes for the coal trains to pass.
The Coal Trains will go to yet-to-be constructed massive coal export shipping docks where the coal is bound for China. Of course, the communities in Washington and Oregon (including the governors of both states) don’t want these coal export docks, so we’ll see what happens with that.
Eventually all that coal would arrive in China and be burned in massive coal fired power plants, causing the world’s world air pollution, so bad, in fact, that little boys and girls like Wu Xioaotian are forced to wear masks…even while indoors.
Yep, music to the ears…I’m sure that’s what little Wu is thinking right now.
In the magic world of blog, a mill opening in Saratoga turns into a chinese boy, little Wu, having breathing problems, via coal trains blocking railroad crossings near the Coors plant. Really guys!
Yep, it is magically Mac…Of course, I was just attempting to illustrate that one person’s “music to my ears” is another person’s living nightmare. After all, we’re all in this together, are we not?
Seeing as home building is on the rise does that mean the US economy is stablising? Over here in the UK we are still in a pretty bad state so this is great news for you guys as well as the employees of Saratoga Mill