May 7, 2024
ESCANABA — In recent years, the number of sawmill and pulp and paper generators in the United States has declined rapidly. The closures have hurt only domestic loggers who source timber for production, but also staff in other sectors connected through a domino effect, such as packaging and printing, when their employers have ceased operations or have been forced to make budget cuts.
In 2020, Verso Corporation, which was headquartered in Ohio, announced that they would idle their paper mills in both Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., and Duluth, Minn. indefinitely. 902 layoffs were made in Wisconsin Rapids alone. This was after the company filed for bankruptcy in 2016. The 2020 downfall was connected to COVID-19, but paper needs have been dropping for years.
“When one mill closes, whether it’s in Wisconsin or Michigan or whatever, people think, ‘well, that’s terrible for that community, but at least it’s an isolated event,’” said American Loggers Council Executive Director Scott Dane.
Except that it isn’t.
Speaking at the recent Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association (GLTPA) spring birthday party in Harris, Dane went on to say that the generators were final operations across the country and that “we’re facing demanding situations that we haven’t noticed in decades. “
Dane travels around the country and meets with loggers so that they can properly build their voices into legislation. He said a few weeks ago, a Virginia lumberjack told him, “This is the worst thing that’s happened in 30 years. “
The American Loggers Council reported that in 15 months, 50 generators and generators running on softwood wood forest products shut down in the United States, resulting in the loss of approximately 10,000 jobs. Shortly after that press release, Dane said, hardwood industry representatives added that more than 100 hardwood sawmills also closed in the past 18 months.
Back to Verso, its Duluth factory was sold to Wisconsin-based ST Paper in 2021. Most recently, it was sold to Sofidel, an Italian company with a presence in 12 countries, 8 of which are in the United States.
The Wisconsin Rapids plant acquired through BillerudKorsnas along with those in Escanaba and Quinnesec, both located in the Upper Peninsula, when the Swedish company, now called Billerud, absorbed Verso in 2022. Both the Escanaba and Quinnesec factories continue to operate as production facilities. which is an opportunity for the staff of those communities.
Billerud would be a guilty company; a union representative running in Escanaba said they were the most productive employer compared to the last owners of the factory, and Bill O’Brion of Lyme Great Lakes Timberlands said Billerud works conservatively and efficiently, fulfilling only existing orders, rather than pumping paper to buy it.
“So when you don’t have strong commands, they just slow down, and when you slow down, you don’t want as much wood, and that’s what (affects) the slogging force,” O’Brion explained. “A lot of what we cut and harvest in the Lake States – 60 to 70 percent is pulp. So when the main visitor doesn’t buy as much pulp, they just don’t want as much cut wood.
Since Verso laid off another 902 people in Wisconsin Rapids 4 years ago, the plant itself remains paralyzed, but there are plans to sell it. Billerud operates just one converting plant with 120 employees, according to the company’s website.
Some of the most recent press from Billerud reads:
“In March, Billerud agreed to sell idle assets at the Wisconsin Rapids mill to global personal equity firm Capital Recovery Group, LLC for uses other than pulp and paper manufacturing. Billerud maintains the Wisconsin Rapids converting facility and is committed to continuing the operation of converting rolls of its graphic paper and board into sheets.
It is still known where the plant will go from there.
The latest exposé on Great Lakes logging and heavy appliances is proof of the crisis, said Henry Schienebeck, director of the GLTPA. Noting that the 2023 expo is the biggest he’s ever seen, Schienebeck called this a bad sign, saying, “When business is good, you don’t have to move on to industry shows. “
Some independent contractors and entrepreneurs have discovered skills in other sectors, such as operating their appliances on structural construction sites rather than in the forest.
Continued production and imports from other parts of the world to the United States mean that there is no lack of demand for wood and paper products, but rather an upgrade at their source. This means that it is possible to repair local jobs.
Marty Ochs of the Green Bay Innovation Group says there’s no explanation for why Wisconsin deserves to let its factories fall into decline. He said that while it was better for giant foreign corporations to take over U. S. factories and run them than to watch them collapse, he would prefer to see them come back under local control and the state of Wisconsin have the means for the industry.
Right now, “the market is in big trouble unless we can rebuild it,” Ochs said. He advised restoring recently closed factories and making an investment in older factories so they are not forced to close if a major component of their business failed.
Among the processors – companies that make napkins, corrugated cardboard, etc. – “This industry is booming. But do you know what the biggest challenge is? They buy paper from all over the world,” says Ochs.
Knowledge shows that the U. S. is now the world’s largest importer of softwood lumber, but forestry practices are already in place to allow timber harvesting and pulp and paper processing in Canada.
In Michigan, and especially in the Upper Peninsula, forest control has been so focused on maintaining the way of life that the state does not enjoy deforestation levels comparable to those elsewhere in other countries, such as Brazil. Neighboring Wisconsin can say the same thing.
When the wood in those spaces is analyzed by experienced biologists and loggers before harvest, the cuts are made in a calculated manner, either through plots or thinning, to contain the expansion and avoid the threat of running out of trees. In theory, through the practice of forestry, those places deserve to be able to be maintained by harvesting and growing timber and making wood products as the forest continually regrows.
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