Timber Bulletin May/Jun - Minnesota Forest Industries

industry by makingimprovements to theSolway mill, including asecond scale. Richardssaid he expects the mill toincrease production by tenpercent in the coming year.Toivonen talked aboutchanges to the Boise mill,which included the idlingof the I1 and I3 papermachines. Although thisresulted in the loss of265 jobs in InternationalFalls, the move allowsthe company to focus onthe more profitable officeand printing papers,eliminates the need topurchase expensive marketpulp, and provides a secureand competitive mill for thefuture of the 580 remainingemployees.Toivonen said the millcurtailments will have little impacton wood consumption, althoughthey may see a slight increase insoftwood usage.For the second consecutive year,DNR Division of Forestry DirectorForrest Boe addressed the AnnualMeeting. Boe said he’s now beenon the job for just over a year andcited the difficulties in the industryover the past year, and thankedTPA members for their efforts inovercoming these obstacles.L-R: Boise’s Dan Toivonen, Sappi’s Gary Erickson, Jerry Richards of Norbord, andPete Aube of Potlatch participate in a panel discussion titled “Outlooks, Trends, andConsiderations in Wood Markets” at the TPA Annual Meeting.“We are survivors,” Boe said ofthe members of Minnesota’s forestrycommunity. “We get through thisstuff, and we work together to makethat happen.”Boe said the state harvest in fiscalyear 2012 was 2.4 million cordsacross all ownerships, down froma high of 4.1 million cords withinthe past decade. Boe said it’s notbecause Minnesota doesn’t havethe wood, but due to the economicrecession. But he echoed whatPotlatch’s Pete Aube had saidmoments earlier, that those with thetrees will succeed.“I like that,” Boe said.Boe said the division of forestryhas had to overcome significantgeneral fund reductions over thelast few years, but thanked WayneBrandt, TPA’s staff, and membersfor their help in securing additionalgeneral fund dollars during therecently completed legislativesession. He said the additionaldollars will help the DNR do its job.“We couldn’t have survived thissession without TPA’s help,” Boesaid. “Our general fund increase isjust a tad over $5 million per year. Idon’t think there’s been a time whenTPA Members had the benefit of hearing several valuable presentations during this year’s TPA Annual MembershipMeeting.16Timber Bulletin May/June 2013