I slow down during the short drive from Monticello to Warren in order to watch construction taking place on Weyerhaeuser Co.'s new facility. The company announced the $500 million investment in November 2024, giving a needed boost of confidence to a part of the state that has struggled economically in recent decades.

I grew up in south Arkansas and realize the importance of the timber industry. As goes that sector of the economy, so goes south Arkansas. Sawmills closing and jobs being lost have been much more common than modern facilities being built.

In September, almost 200 people who are involved in the Southern timber industry will gather for two days in Texarkana. Matthew Pelkki directs the Arkansas Center for Forest Business, which is housed on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Pelkki describes "a wall of wood" across the South and states that "our forests aren't healthy." Attendees will discuss what to do with that wall of wood.

Miles Goggans, a prominent lobbyist who manages his family's timberland south of Star City, is helping organize the summit. In 2022, the Arkansas Forestry Commission selected his family's land as its Arkansas Tree Farm of the Year. Goggans has spent decades trying to increase turkey and quail populations on that land.

"We won't exclusively focus on the dismal economics for most of us in the forestry community," he says. "The summit will include a healthy dose of conversation about what our actions mean for the creatures that reside on this land. Our small, resilient state rests squarely in the loblolly pine belt. It consists of about 39 million acres stretching across parts of 13 states. The prognosis isn't good. This is billed as a four-state summit, but I bet we have attendees from more states than that.

"We'll likely have a follow-up meeting in a couple of years. Friends in Georgia have already told me they will be there and that they want to organize something similar. Sadly, the pain is widely shared."

The future of the industry may depend on innovative products such as the trademarked TimberStrand that Weyerhaeuser will produce at its Arkansas facility. Using Southern yellow pine as a primary feed stock, Weyerhaeuser will manufacture laminated........

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