Officials tour Weyerhaeuser plant

United States Sen. John Boozman (R) and U.S. Congressman Bruce Westerman (R) (pictured above, from left) are teaming up this week for the “Seed2Sawmill Tour.” They began Tuesday with a tour of the Weyerhaeuser facility at Emerson.

Westerman explained the two were starting their forestry tour, and would “spend three days in the southern part of Arkansas - seedlings to sawmill.” They toured Weyerhaeuser’s nursery facility Tuesday morning, met with some of the facility’s workforce, and then toured the processing facility.

According to the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), this tour is designed to promote forest health and highlight the industry’s deep economic benefits to the state of Arkansas. The tour will examine each aspect of forestry, from the planting to its use in products such as paper and building materials.

“Forestry is a huge part of Arkansas’ economy,” Westerman said. “Nationwide it’s on par with both the chemical industries and automotive industries combined, so it’s a big part of the U.S. economy, big here in Arkansas and in North Louisiana.”

“It’s a huge industry and I think you forget about the different facets,” Boozman said. During the tour the two were out “actually visiting with the operators of the plants, visiting with the people who are cutting the wood, growing it from seedlings, asking them about the problems they face, and again see how we can identify some of those problems and offer solutions.”

Boozman is co-chair of the Senate Paper and Packaging Caucus and the Senate Recycling Caucus. Last fall, he joined other senators in publicly supporting 2015’s National Forest Products Week. Additionally, he has been a vital leader in protecting the integrity of the recovered fiber stream.

Westerman knows the forest products industry well. He holds a Master of Forestry degree from Yale University and worked as an engineer and forester for 22 years. He also represents the congressional district with the highest number of forest products industry employees in the country. He serves as a key member of the Congressional Paper and Packaging Caucus and co-chairs the Working Forests Caucus. He has been a steadfast leader in the U.S. House of Representatives in advocating for federal policies that recognize and support the industry’s production and use of carbon neutral biomass energy.

“The part of it, I think, we need to do a better job of is getting the message out on how everybody wins with a healthy forest,” Westerman said. “We all know we’ve got a good economic impact, got the good jobs that are here at Weyerhaeuser’s Emerson plywood plant. But also when you have healthy forests we get clean air and we get great wildlife habitat; we get places we can do outdoor recreation. And I think that’s the story - that all Americans benefit from what happens here in rural Arkansas.”

Boozman said that Arkansas is blessed to have Westerman as a Congressman, not only as being the only forester, “but being so well respected in a short tenure in Congress. He was able to carry the big bill that had to do with the forestry industry, which was unheard of as a freshman. The committee chairman went to him and asked him to do that.”

Both lawmakers agreed that housing is a vital part of the U.S. economy, as well as Arkansas, and the forestry industry is a critical component of this. “What we need now is a healthy economy,” Boozman said. “It’s all about jobs, jobs, jobs - creating a healthy economy.”

“I agree with what the senator said,” Westerman said. “If you look at what’s really putting a squeeze on new housing starts, a lot of it goes back to the financial side with the regulations on banking. It’s hard for banks to make loans the way they used to, especially community banks in small towns in Arkansas that had nothing to do with the bubble and the burst back in 2007 and 2008. But they’re now being regulated like Wall Steet banks, so we’ve got to get smart regulation in place so people are able to lend money to homebuyers and people wanting to remodel and do renovations.”

According to the AF&PA, in Arkansas alone, the forest products industry supports about 20,000 direct jobs at pulp, paper, and wood products manufacturing facilities, with a more than $1 billion annual payroll. There are six pulp, paper and paperboard mills, and 56 paper-converting facilities.

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