Southern Chip Mill Facilities

The Forest Landowners Association supports the expansion of new wood converting facilities in the South, including chip mills. Chip mills facilitate marketing of wood that previously could not be sold. This opens greater forest management options for landowners.

Most forests in the South are owned by private landowners, many of whom depend on a reasonable rate of return on their investment to keep their lands in forests and manage them for future generations. Chip mills provide markets, or processing mechanization that can enhance this rate of return. FLA believes that market forces will and should regulate the number, type, and location of wood converting facilities including chip mills, and that the appropriate role of government is to assure that the manufacturing facilities adhere to appropriate environmental and safety regulations. Members of FLA believe that healthy, productive forests contribute importantly to societal well being. Its members demonstrate commitment to this belief by investing their money, time, and hard work in managing their forests productively. Collectively, these private forests owned by FLA members represent 24% of the forested lands in the South. Markets for forest products can make the difference between a landowner's deciding to keep land in forests or to convert it to non-forest uses. Chip mills provide one such market, often by providing a low-cost, efficient method of processing small diameter and low-quality wood that would otherwise be unmarketable. Moreover, rather than causing deforestation, markets can make it cost-effective to reforest understocked and non-productive forestland. As wood chips are not a "product" per se, but a step in the process of converting standing pulpwood into pulp for paper and other "products," chip mill expansion will depend on either expansion of domestic wood products manufacturing facilities, or on expanding export markets for chips. Experts believe that there will not likely be new paper mills built in the United States. Other countries that have invested heavily in forestry are now able to contribute significantly to the world supply of wood chips. For these reasons, the possibilities for continued growth in the number of chip mills is thought to be limited. Based on these considerations, FLA believes that governmental restrictions on the growth or location of chip mills are unwarranted. FLA believes that the chip mills now operating and those currently planned for construction are healthy for the future of private forestry in the South and do not pose environmental problems. FLA is a strong advocate of prompt reforestation of all commercial forestland following harvesting, and encourages strict adherence to state Best Management Practices for timberland harvesting and management.