In this 2006 photo, two huge blades cut a cypress log, in a first step giving the log two straight sides, enabling work to begin on it. The outer casing of the log, right, will be specially milled to get a solid wood board out of it, maximizing the resource. Louisiana State Cypress is a sawmill specializing in cypress in Roseland.

In this 1987 photo, a 1500 pound log slide effortlessly thru his 46 inch saw blade in the mill. Operator of Hallelujah Sawmill. John LeMeur

In this 1969 photo, the Edwards Mill near Ponchatoula is one of a number of small sawmills which today are cutting a new crop of pine timber. The Edwards family was one of the early settlers of St. Tammany Parish.

In this 1983 photo, logs are stacked (right of frame) to be sent through the debarking machine at Miles Sawmill in 21 North of Bogalusa, Louisiana

In this 1983 photo, logs are stacked (right of frame) to be sent through the debarking machine at Miles Sawmill in 21 North of Bogalusa, Louisiana

In this 1990 photo, John LeMeur uses his outdoor sawmill to cut cypress board for a stair-work in his log cabin he is building in Lower Coast Algiers.

Logging in the forests of western Louisiana in the 1920s: The sawmill towns created by this type of operation were easy marks for St. Louis Blackie during his heyday. Editor's note: "The life and times of St. Louis Blackie is a six-part account of the life of an itinerant gangster and yeggman who robbed trains, cracked safes and held up banks in Louisiana. Arkansas and Texas during the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s, and spent 30 years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola paying for it. Now 72 retired from crime and living in New Orleans. St. Louis Blackie Ñ a nickname used for his protection.

In this 1983 photo, debarked logs wait the big saw that will cut them down to be turned into boards. at 21 North of Bogalusa, Louisiana

In this 1983 photo, a timber Industry worker sorts wooden boards at Miles Sawmill at 21 North of Bogalusa -- Harry Mapp sorts boards to be sorted after they come off the conveyor belt.

In this 1987 photo, John LeMeur checks the temperature of his 46 inch blade at his sawmill in lower coast Algiers. Too hot of a temperature can cause binding problems.

Advocate Staff Photo by LIZ CONDO. Photo shot on 11/11/08. Trax no. 00014648A / Larry Jacob, Jr. with Hinson Logging, Inc. descends from his loader among the stacks of trees ready to be trucked to the mill. At one time Hinson Logging would average up 30 truck loads of trees per day. With the housing slump and the lower value of timber, the company now averages between 10 and 12 loads per day.

Gov. John Bel Edwards and other officials pose at the groundbreaking of Teal Jones' new sawmill in Plain Dealing on July 11. 

In this 2006 photo, two huge blades cut a cypress log, in a first step giving the log two straight sides, enabling work to begin on it. The outer casing of the log, right, will be specially milled to get a solid wood board out of it, maximizing the resource. Louisiana State Cypress is a sawmill specializing in cypress in Roseland.

In this 1987 photo, a 1500 pound log slide effortlessly thru his 46 inch saw blade in the mill. Operator of Hallelujah Sawmill. John LeMeur

In this 1969 photo, the Edwards Mill near Ponchatoula is one of a number of small sawmills which today are cutting a new crop of pine timber. The Edwards family was one of the early settlers of St. Tammany Parish.

In this 1983 photo, logs are stacked (right of frame) to be sent through the debarking machine at Miles Sawmill in 21 North of Bogalusa, Louisiana

In this 1983 photo, logs are stacked (right of frame) to be sent through the debarking machine at Miles Sawmill in 21 North of Bogalusa, Louisiana

Logging in the forests of western Louisiana in the 1920s: The sawmill towns created by this type of operation were easy marks for St. Louis Blackie during his heyday. Editor's note: "The life and times of St. Louis Blackie is a six-part account of the life of an itinerant gangster and yeggman who robbed trains, cracked safes and held up banks in Louisiana. Arkansas and Texas during the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s, and spent 30 years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola paying for it. Now 72 retired from crime and living in New Orleans. St. Louis Blackie Ñ a nickname used for his protection.

In this 1983 photo, debarked logs wait the big saw that will cut them down to be turned into boards. at 21 North of Bogalusa, Louisiana

In this 1987 photo, John LeMeur checks the temperature of his 46 inch blade at his sawmill in lower coast Algiers. Too hot of a temperature can cause binding problems.

Advocate Staff Photo by LIZ CONDO. Photo shot on 11/11/08. Trax no. 00014648A / Larry Jacob, Jr. with Hinson Logging, Inc. descends from his loader among the stacks of trees ready to be trucked to the mill. At one time Hinson Logging would average up 30 truck loads of trees per day. With the housing slump and the lower value of timber, the company now averages between 10 and 12 loads per day.

Earlier this month, Gov. John Bel Edwards and a gaggle of other officials trekked to the tiny town of Plain Dealing in northern Bossier Parish, where they announced the construction of a new, $110 million sawmill by British Columbia-based Teal Jones.

The groundbreaking, where Edwards held a shovel and wore a cowboy hat as he stood under giant American and Canadian flags, highlighted the rapid expansion of lumber production in Louisiana in the past 14 months. Between May 2021 and April of this year, six new projects were announced, adding up to nearly $700 million in new investment.

Gov. John Bel Edwards and other officials pose at the groundbreaking of Teal Jones' new sawmill in Plain Dealing on July 11. 

Several of those projects, such as the one from Teal Jones, are new sawmills that reflect what companies believe is the potential of Louisiana's lumber industry. The moves are driven in part by the housing and lumber price spike during the pandemic, according to Jinggang Guo, an assistant professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness at LSU's AgCenter. who noted that lumber prices were driven into "red hot" territory of more than $1,500 per 1,000 board feet. More recently, prices have fallen to around $600 per 1,000 board feet, but that's still nearly double from the $350 per 1,000 board feet seen before the pandemic.

Like several deep south states, Louisiana has abundant timber and relatively low operating costs, which has prompted mills to move from western states where production is more expensive, Guo said.

"There's a lot of timber in the forest," Guo said, referencing the high level of supplies currently in place.

While crops like sugar and rice are often seen as the behemoths of Louisiana agriculture, trees are the state's biggest ag business by revenue and have been a critical crop for more than a century. The state's 14 million acres of forests cover nearly half of the state. 

In this 1983 photo, a timber Industry worker sorts wooden boards at Miles Sawmill at 21 North of Bogalusa -- Harry Mapp sorts boards to be sorted after they come off the conveyor belt.

Louisiana's timber production gradually increased through the second half of the 20th century until the state was producing about 1.5 billion board feet of sawtimber per year in the 1990s. The housing crisis in 2007-2008 put the brakes on the industry as fewer homes were built, and by 2009, the amount of board feet produced in the state had nearly halved.

Since then, the state's overall production has slowly been inching up again until a brief pause brought on by the pandemic, and now, several projects are in the works.

Teal Jones' Plain Dealing mill joins a planned $240 million sawmill in Bienville Parish, a $160 million mill in DeRidder, $157-million in upgrades to a mill in Holden, and a smaller investment in Avoyelles Parish. Canada-based Interfor is planning to invest $8 million to restart a shuttered DeQuincy mill.

State economic development officials have estimated that the new projects could add more than 2,000 new jobs in total.

And two new projects that use wood pellets for biofuel have been announced, adding to the market for lumber by-products. Arbor Renewable Gas said in June it plans to put a plant in West Baton Rouge and Origin Materials in February announced plans to put a plant in Ascension Parish. Both will use wood pellets.

In this 1990 photo, John LeMeur uses his outdoor sawmill to cut cypress board for a stair-work in his log cabin he is building in Lower Coast Algiers.

Drax, a United Kingdom-based company, already has three plants in Louisiana where they produce wood pellets that are used for fuel, including shipping some to England for use in electricity generation.

In a statement issued late last year, Teal Jones acknowledged the versatility of timber products

"The lumber will provide the materials needed to support more jobs at downstream operations — homebuilders, transport, companies turning lumber into finished products such as furniture, and a lot more," the company said. "The sawdust and chips left over from milling will go to local pulp, paper and pellet plants."

Faimon A. Roberts III covers rural communities in Louisiana. His work is supported by a reporting grant from the Microsoft Journalism Initiative and is administered by the Greater New Orleans Foundation. He can be reached at froberts@theadvocate.com.

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