The Cenla Logging Industry After International Paper...

Since the announcement of the closing of International Paper's Pineville plant, a group of the region's economic developers has been meeting at the Central Louisiana Chamber of Commerce. These meetings are intended to help chart the magnitude and nature of the economic disruption, and to plan and execute appropriate responses.

With the assistance of International Paper, it has been a fairly straightforward process to understand things like the number of direct jobs lost, the amount of tax revenues lost, etc. It's always somewhat harder to chart the secondary effects--for example, in this case, the impact of the plant closing on the logging industry.

A meeting was convened last week at the headquarters of the Louisiana Forestry Association to help assess this problem. Organized and facilitated by LFA Executive Director Buck Vandersteen, the meeting included more than a dozen of the region's professional loggers. State representatives Chris Roy, Jr. and Chris Hazel attended along with representatives of the LFA, Chamber, England Airpark and Cenla Advantage Partnership.

For many of the loggers, the IP closing represents the continuation of a long-term trend rather than a new and traumatic event within itself. One logger noted that 19 various mills have closed within his business area since he began logging. Most loggers said they have been downsizing prior to the IP closing, some for as many as five and six years. One logger said he's been downsizing for a year, and that he has four fewer employees now. Another said his company has dropped from 50 to 27 employees over a six-year period. He described his business as "struggling." Another firm dropped from 26 to 6 employees in the same period.

Some firms, however, have not laid off employees during these same periods. One of these loggers, who has actually added employees, said "We have to be smarter," in terms of both innovation and diversification of our businesses. A long-time logger who has exited the businesses reminded the attendees that "..there is no guarantee of survival."

Bright spots cited by the loggers included the emergence of biomass markets. This was viewed with some caution, however, and more as an opportunity for diversification than a replacement for existing sales. Many loggers thanked the lawmakers in attendance for tax breaks that have helped prop up the industry during hard times. 

International Paper continues to be important to the loggers. Many of them are now diverting their deliveries to IP's Campti operations. While expenses are higher and the trips more time consuming, this is helping to alleviate the pressures for further downsizing at least temporarily.

The economic developers will reconvene after the first of the year to continue their efforts to offset the job and economic losses..