Forestry Report A PUBLICATION OF F&W FORESTRY SERVICES, INC.
SPRING 2026 | NO. 168
I Can’t Tell You Why By Marshall Thomas, President of F&W Forestry Services, Inc.
Before I get into the “why” question, I want to talk a little bit about the newsletter. Since we stopped publishing a printed version, we have really embraced the electronic format. I think our news is on target (put together by our long-term newsletter publisher, Bates Associates), but now almost every article ends with source links. You’re not just getting the news, you are getting the sources. And in this issue we are introducing something I find really exciting. As F&W has grown, it has become more difficult to talk about markets in this brief introductory article. So we decided to let our regional managers report on their areas—but it was hard to get them to standardize their responses (foresters aren’t really conformists). Our COO, Jeff Jordan, put AI to work and had it summarize the managers reports into the table on page 3. I think it is both an informative and brief summary of the markets across our operating footprint. Be sure to take a look at it. You can also read the extended version of their responses on our website. Now back to our usual discussion. There is growing momentum to create new markets for our wood. See the articles on the Renewable Fuel Standard (page 2) and the new international woody biomass coalition (page 7). This is important and we need new markets, because all indications are that pulp mills in the U.S. are on the way out—and I can’t tell you
why. And no one I ask can tell me why. I get general statements about international competition and changing markets, but I never hear anything actionable. It takes a long time for new markets to develop, and if all they do is replace a dying pulp industry, what have we gained? The best thing for forest landowners in the U.S. would be to figure out why our pulp mills are closing and get to work on legislation, taxes, and whatever else our biggest customers need to compete in world markets. Pulp production worldwide is not going down. It is shifting from the U.S. to other countries. We know why developing countries want pulp mills—they need the capital and they need the jobs. And we are letting them take the capital and the jobs from us, along with the wood markets. But then there is Finland, a developed country just like the U.S. Over the last 20 years they have opened two new pulp mills, replacing old ones. They have completed major rebuilds on another four to six—new core processes inside existing mills, at costs ranging from €200 million to €1 billion—and significant refurbishments on another 15 to 25 facilities. Finland is maintaining its pulp production by modernizing its facilities. We aren’t. New markets are important. But we also need to focus on protecting our current markets. We need to know what the pulp and paper industry needs to thrive in the U.S., as it is doing elsewhere in the world, and we need to get to work on that—alongside pursuing new markets. Pulp and paper is fighting us on the new markets. (continued on page 2)
INSIDE THIS ISSUE PAGE 2
PAGE 3
PAGE 4
PAGE 5
PAGES 6-7
Modernization of RFS
NEW! Regional Market News
States Rolling Out Disaster Aid
IP Splits Into Two Companies
2025-26 Reforestation Activity