By Pepper Fisher
FORKS, WA – There’s a new wood products company coming to Forks with hundreds of new jobs in play and a long-term vision for creating a greener, more sustainable model for the Olympic Peninsula lumber trade.
Sustainable Green Team, Ltd (SGTM) announced this week they’ll be moving into the former Interfor Mill sites, closed in 2014, at the City of Forks Industrial Park and the site north of Forks in Beaver. The two sites will again work jointly to form the operations of the new SGTM mill. The company already has similar operations in Florida and Georgia. We asked CEO Tony Raynor why he sees Forks as the company’s next frontier.
Well, I’ll tell you. Out here on the west end, this place is so gorgeous and the people are so receptive. And I got to tell you, it’s really the support and the opportunity and just, I couldn’t think of a better place, you know, to do this. I mean, we’re in the wood basket of America. And, you know, we really believe with the workforce that’s already existing here, and the wood, that there was a real sustainable opportunity.”
SGTM describes their operation as a state-of-the-art, highly automated production using environmentally friendly, formamide free, Nano Adhesive Technology to produce a wide range of dimensional and specialty lumber products. They expect to directly employ 95 full-time workers.
The Director of the Clallam County Economic Development Council, Colleen McAleer, estimates the project will also support at least an additional 130 jobs, for a total of 225 prospective new jobs on the North Olympic Peninsula. Some of the mill jobs will require special training.
“We’re going to be working with Impact Washington, which is our state’s manufacturing extension partnership that does specialized training programs in partnership with Peninsula College so that we can have training programs available for the needs of these businesses that are expanding in the timber industry on the west end.”
Prospective workers should have time to get that special training, as Raynor estimates the timeline for getting the mills up and running with new equipment at around 24 months.
The company expects to source primarily Douglas Fir and Hemlock from local landowners and the DNR, using every bit of wood in one way or another, including the sale of chips and sawdust to pulp and wood pellet plants. McAleer says SGTM is a good fit for the goals of the community and the State of Washington.
“And they’re doing it in such a way that there isn’t waste and its carbon neutral. And there’s just so many positive things that come out of this, and it’s been well researched. So, it meets so many of our state’s goals and our local economic goals, and we’re really excited about it.”
Raynor says transportation and manufacturing issues play into the two year timeline they’ll need to get things going, but he says Sustainable Green Team is committed to getting it right.
“We wanted to be fair with projecting how long this would take but, you know, if we can get it done sooner that’ll be even better. But we want to be realistic and, you know, we’re not here for a quick buck. We’re here for a sustainable, long term for generations, you know, to leave a legacy. So at the end of the day, this a long-term commitment.”
(Photo: Tony Raynor.)