"We're still here," said Brent Stinnett, forest operations manager for Plum Creek Timber Company in West Monroe, in an interview at his office last month.
Plum Creek, which sold its two Southern region sawmills at Joyce, Louisiana and Huttig Arkansas last December to West Fraser South, continues to manage 530,000 acres of timberlands in the two-state region, and maintains its forestry operations at Joyce and Huttig. Stinnett remains housed in the West Fraser office building off Thomas Road in West Monroe, where Plum Creek formerly operated.
Plum Creek maintains contracts with about 50 independent logging contractors, to furnish West Fraser and other users with logs for sawmill operations, Stinnett said.
Forestry operations at Joyce and Huttig are managed by 18 persons at each location, from where all forest management is planned and directed.
Plum Creek also operates a 600-acre tree nursery at Vivian, Texas, between Texarkana and Shreveport, where the company raises over 20 million seedlings annually. This season just ended saw planting of over 16 million seedlings on 30,000 acres of new trees.
Forest operations by Plum Creek include intensive cultivation, with planting, fertilization, and herbicides by both aerial and ground application.
"We think the managed trees are responding better than expectations, and the returns more than justify the higher cost of management," Stinnett said.
Plum Creek is serious about environmental concerns, as well, Stinnett said. The company will have complete and in place by midsummer over 3,000 acres in Louisiana and Arkansas, adjacent to the Felsenthal Wildlife Refuge for a population of the endangered Red Cockaded Woodpecker.
The company has 3.2 million acres of forest land in the U.S., including 900,000 acres purchased in Maine, which it manages under guidelines of the Sustainable Forestry Initiatives of AF&PA. Plum Creek maintains ongoing environmental auditing, and maintains verification of compliance with SFI. It plans a full third party audit next year, for certification.
Stinnett is a native of the Pacific Northwest, and has a degree in forest engineering from Oregon State University. He and his wife are residents of Monroe.