Professional Logging Contractors of Maine applauds LP Building Solutions Houlton Facility Expansion Announcement
The Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine trade association applauded an announcement by LP Building Solutions, a Tennessee-based manufacturer of engineered wood building products, that it will invest approximately $400 million to expand its LP Houlton facility to manufacture more of its flagship siding product. When completed, the expansion is expected to create 100 new jobs and boost demand for Maine wood.
“This announcement is more good news from LP for loggers and their communities in northern Maine as they seek new and stable markets for Maine wood,” Dana Doran, Executive Director of the PLC, said. “LP’s willingness to invest in the future of Maine’s forest economy with this expansion and with the previous $150 million investment in SmartSide trim and siding manufacturing announced in 2021 demonstrates the company’s belief in the resilience and future of Maine’s forest economy and the loggers who are the foundation of it.”
LP buys poplar roundwood and some other hardwood for its siding, and the investments are expected to increase the company’s consumption of local and sustainably sourced fiber significantly.
LP’s announcement this week follows a previous $150 million investment to convert the facility from the manufacture of oriented strand board to the company’s flagship SmartSide trim and siding product. The PLC joined Maine Governor Janet Mills and others at a ceremony in August celebrating the successful completion of that conversion.
Maine’s loggers are a vital part of the state’s forest products sector, which is worth an estimated $7.7 billion annually.
The logging industry contributed an estimated $619 million to the Maine economy in 2017, supported more than 9,000 jobs directly or indirectly, generated $342 million in labor income, and pumped an estimated $25 million into state and local tax coffers.
Founded in 1995 with a handful of members who were concerned about the future of the industry, the PLC has grown steadily to become a statewide trade association which provides independent logging contractors and truckers a voice in the rapidly changing forest products industry. Board membership consists of only loggers, making it an organization that is run by loggers on behalf of loggers.
Learn more about the PLC at www.maineloggers.com.