GFB News Magazine

Timber industry reeling from mill closures

by Jennifer Whittaker
GFB News Editor

Posted on November 23, 2025 7:44 AM

Georgia’s timber sector is still recovering from Hurricane Helene last year, which destroyed timber across Southeast Georgia from Valdosta to Augusta. Then in May, Georgia Pacific (GP) announced it was closing its Cedar Springs containerboard mill in Early County by Aug. 1. According to GP, the plant employed about 535 people until all operations ceased by the end of August.

“Various factors influenced this decision, and we do not believe that the mill could continue to competitively operate. This decision had nothing to do with the quality of work of our Cedar Springs employees,” GP said in a released statement.  

A report compiled by retired ABAC President David Bridges, who is now a consultant, estimates the annual economic loss of the plant to be $182 million to the local economy. In addition to payroll and direct and indirect spending, this also includes tax revenue for local schools and governments and the effect on foresters who supplied the mill. Bridges counts 87 Georgia timber companies within 100 miles of the closed mill.

On Aug. 21, International Paper (IP) announced it was closing its plants in Savannah and Riceboro by the end of September. The company said the combined changes will result in a net reduction of its annual containerboard capacity by about one million tons.

The closure of the Savannah containerboard mill, the Savannah packaging facility, the Riceboro containerboard mill and Riceboro Timber and Lumber are estimated to have affected about 1,000 employees at the Chatham and Liberty County plants. 

When IP announced the closure of these Georgia facilities, it said it plans to convert a portion of its facility in Selma, Ala., to produce containerboard. Published media reports have speculated IP’s decision may have been influenced by the value of the company’s 450 acres located next to the Georgia Ports Authority terminal in Garden City.

The closings of both the GP and IP plants will have a direct economic impact of $1.7 billion and an indirect impact of $845 million, Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) Utilization Chief Devon Dartnell told the Georgia House Rural Development Committee during a September meeting. The effect due to lost wages will be $318 million.

On Nov. 6, Canadian company West Fraser Timber announced it is closing its Augusta lumber mill in Richmond County by the end of this year. In a released statement, the company said the decision is due to timber supply challenges and soft lumber markets. The mill employs about 130 employees.

Looking for solutions

IP’s announcement was made on Aug. 21, the same day state leaders spoke at the annual Ag Issues Summit held in Perry.

Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, whose 159th District adjoins Chatham County, emphasized the job losses likely will not be limited to just those at the IP plants. 

“The Georgia Department of Labor currently estimates three to four indirect job losses could occur for every direct job lost at the International Paper facilities. These estimates do not account for the timber growers who are facing the loss of their livelihoods due to this unforeseen and devastating blow to Georgia’s timber industry,”  Burns said. 

For Georgia’s timber sector to retool and survive, one part of the solution is for government to 

create a regulatory environment so the existing industry can thrive, F&W Forest Services President Marshall Thomas said at the Ag Issues Summit. The timber industry also needs to get into producing bio energy products, such as biodiesel, to meet the growing demand for green energy.      

“Last year a new bio products mill opened in Finland on a site that was previously a pulp and paper mill for 100 years,” Thomas said. “It’s fossil fuel free. It doesn’t even use electricity off the grid because it produces its own electricity. It will produce a million and a half tons of tall oil turpentine from softwood and hardwood. You can make biodiesel out of tall oil turpentine. Two and a half percent of Finland’s energy requirements will come out of this bio products mill. Instead of closing down papermills, why aren’t we doing this?”

Thomas, who travels the world visiting forests with his job, said Georgia has some of the greenest natural forests in the world, an existing industry in place, a great workforce and infrastructure of roads and loggers to get the trees to plants and the markets.

“All we have to do is shift the products we’re making along with continuing what we’re making,” Thomas said. “We’ve got everything in this state to become one of the leading providers of green products in the world. If we do that, we’re going to provide jobs, tax base and all kinds of economic opportunities to the citizens of our state.”

Thomas commended Georgia legislators and the Senate study committee that is looking into sustainable aviation fuel and other products that can be made from Georgia timber.

“We’ve also got to figure out why we’re being replaced [paper mills]. Why is the industry leaving the U.S. going to other places?” Thomas said. “It’s not just South America and China. The industry is also going to countries like Finland.”

On Sept. 10, the GFC announced that Gov. Brian Kemp has charged the state agency to lead a task force to address the challenges facing the state’s forest products industry. GFC Director Johnny Sabo is working with other state agencies, academic institutions and industry partners to develop a strategic plan.

The Forestry Task Force will include the Georgia Department of Agriculture, Georgia Forestry Association, Georgia Department of Economic Development, UGA Warnell School of Forestry, Georgia Tech, the Technical College System of Georgia, and Georgia’s Rural Center. Kemp charged the task force to seek input from landowners, forestry leaders, state and federal partners.