MONTICELLO, Ark. — One of the largest timber companies in the world is expanding its Arkansas roots by investing half a billion dollars to build a new facility.
This investment from Weyerhaeuser is coming at perfect timing for the southern part of the state after recent plant and mill closures.
In early September, AHF Products CEO, Bryan Carson, announced that hundreds of employees at their plant in Warren would be without a job.
The company specializes in hardwood flooring and they shared that after the pandemic, the cost of timber and the housing market are two major deciding factors in why they were forced to lay off some of their employees.
Now, experts have referred to Weyerhaeuser as the perfect rebound because it will create hundreds of new jobs in the Monticello and Warren areas.
"We're looking at a total local job gain of close to 500 and so those workers from those mills who are familiar at AHF Flooring they're going to be very employable at this new facility because they're familiar with that," explained Dr. Matthew Pelkki, the Director of the Arkansas Center for Forest Business at the University of Arkansas at Monticello
Dr. Pelkki also explained how the new facility being built will also provide more income to families in the area.
"There are higher opportunities for education, there's opportunities for higher wages, and for the region. We're actually going to be using a resource that we've got a surplus of," Dr. Pelkki added.
Dean of the College of Forestry, Agriculture, and Natural Resources at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Dr. Michael Blazier, explained how this new development also provides relief to the forest.
By having new development in the area, it prevents their forest from becoming overgrown and causing bigger agriculture problems down the road.
"Healthy markets lead to healthy forests, and this gives us an opportunity to continue proactive management in those forests so that they don't become stifled and overgrown and more susceptible to health threats like insects and disease," Dr. Blazier said.
Officials with Weyerhaeuser say the new facility would expand wood products and add almost 10 million cubic feet of engineered dimensional lumber.
"Geographically, this is positioned well to serve a lot of different housing markets, and it being an innovative product that will really allow them to use the fiber wood that we have in overabundance in this area, and make a good product with it," Dr. Blazier added.
If you've found yourself wondering how this mill will be different from previous ones that have come and gone?
According to Dr. Blazier, it's because Weyerhaeuser already has roots in the Natural State.