Arkansas Governor Discusses Value of Arkansas’s Timber Industry

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson knows the value of Arkansas’s timber industry.  Nearly 57% of Arkansas is forested and Arkansas is the ninth largest timber producer in the United States. There are 1.2 million acres more forestland in the state today than in 1978. Arkansas harvests more than 24 million tons per year, which is worth approximately $445 million to landowners. As long as there are sufficient buyers for Arkansas timber, landowners can continue to keep their forests thinned out and healthy. Hutchinson went on to say that as we continue to grow our forests, we must continue to expand into new markets and find new uses for timber. To that end Hutchinson spoke about Structurlam, the Canadian company that manufactures a construction product called cross-laminated timbers, or CLT. Structurlam is in the process of retrofitting the old Nucor Steel plant in Conway, with a scheduled operational date of mid-2021. When in operation the facility will exclusively use Arkansas Pine in the process. Structurlam will be supplying Walmart with mass timber for their new headquarters in Bentonville.