There’s a bottleneck in the supply chain due to lack of interest in setting up new grade Mills. The building material quality logs are going to Indiana for Bourbon barrels, and northwest Ohio for flooring.
The lack of treatment plants close by also hurt’s the chances of these vital Mills being built. I may be missing something here, but the timber in my neck of the woods is plentiful. During the Obama administration you couldn’t keep up with the environmental regulations that were suddenly being enforced harshly on smaller Mills. In the small towns of Garrison, and Vanceburg Kentucky four Mills went under due to this.
These are Mills that employed generations of the citizens of Kentucky. If the grade Mills are built close enough to the skid yards, I believe we would be able to directly impact the supply chain shortage? The low grade log’s could easily be bought at the skid yards for a better price. The tie logs are worth more to the mills that saw mainly low grade lumber and railroad ties.
This is something that could keep drivers on the road, and Bacon on the table for smaller operations that have trouble with getting the logs needed to run year round.
This is being talked about, but that’s the problem… it’s just talk? My opinion is in no way an expert one. I’m just trying to get feedback from the LBM community to try to come up with a serious solution? The Biden administration likes to make promises that have string’s attached. It seems like for every good policy, there’s a handful of laws that almost guarantee that it’s Dead on arrival?
If the Pakira community put our heads together, I believe we could find a solution to the problem without depending on the word of politicians.