Neiman announces cutbacks at Spearfish, Hulett sawmills

RAPID CITY, S.D. — An area forest merchandise firm has introduced they’re decreasing hours at their mills in response to a scarcity of accessible timber within the Black Hills National Forest.

Hulett-based Neiman Enterprises made the announcement to their staff at the Hulett (Devils Tower Forest Products) and Spearfish (Spearfish Forest Products) sawmills at 4:00 Thursday afternoon.

The discount in hours will remove a shift at the Hulett web site and scale back work hours in Spearfish.

Sonja Merryman, the corporate’s neighborhood relations director, mentioned, “Neiman Enterprises is dedicated to our staff, communities, and this forest, which is why we’re retaining all staff on the payroll regardless of the discount in milling.”

The announcement comes about a year after they closed their sawmill in Hill City (Rushmore Forest Products) due to a timber scarcity.

In an announcement launched late Thursday afternoon, firm president Jim Neiman says they’re nonetheless working with the U.S. Forest Service and different companions, regardless of their disagreement with the lowered timber harvest.

A 2021 report by the U.S. Forest Service states that the present stay saw-timber quantity doesn’t help a long-term sustainable timber provide if harvests proceed at the 181,000 ccf allowable sale amount. (1 ccf = 100 cubic ft)

South Dakota Senator John Thune is likely one of the many legislators who’ve spoken out towards the Forest Service’s discount plan.

Sen. Thune informed NewsCenter1:

“For years, I’ve pressed the U.S. Forest Service to collaboratively develop a plan that balances the wants of the Black Hills National Forest’s administration and the forest merchandise trade, which performs a essential function in supporting forest well being and the regional financial system,” Sen. Thune mentioned. “It’s clear that the Forest Service doesn’t have a plan for turning across the pattern of mill closures, and if the company doesn’t discover a strategy to make extra timber obtainable, the forest merchandise trade will quickly be gone. Through its inaction, the Forest Service is systematically dismantling the forest merchandise trade. As we’ve seen in different elements of the nation, as soon as milling infrastructure is gone, it’s practically not possible to deliver it again, and forests face elevated danger of catastrophic wildfires, like those who have decimated tens of millions of acres lately. The Forest Service must acknowledge what is occurring to the trade within the Black Hills and provide you with a accountable plan to deal with it instantly. We can’t maintain further mill closures or reductions in milling capability.I’m calling on the Forest Service to offer native officers with the workers and instruments needed to realize everybody’s shared objective of sustaining the well being of the forest earlier than it’s too late.”

South Dakota Congressman Dusty Johnson mentioned:

“Neimans has been a devoted accomplice with the Forest Service for years. These reductions danger the longevity of South Dakota’s sawmills. When mills go away – or on this case scale back hours – these staff have to search out different jobs. These jobs are area of interest – these staff don’t simply come again when forest administration turns into needed once more after we see an uptick in fires and bug outbreaks. A managed forest is a wholesome forest.”

Opponents say a discount in timber harvest units the forest up for probably lethal wildfires and different epidemics like that of the mountain pine beetle. Their concern goes additional, saying a devastating fireplace would possible impression tourism within the area – South Dakota’s second-largest trade.

Merryman mentioned, “These mills are essential inexperienced infrastructure that’s important for the well being and resilience of the Black Hills,” including that the discount in timber provide is believed to be non permanent.