Once completed, the mill is projected to produce 300 million board feet of specialized lumber annually.

An economic shot in the arm for Bossier Parish

In April 2021, Shreveport attorney Rich Lamb saw a need.

Where there is need, there is opportunity.

Lamb’s family has owned timberlands for several generations.

“Lumber prices were high, and the price on the stump for timber was still very low. Our communities used to have a number of wood product businesses in the surrounding areas. That was really no longer the case.”

Fast forward to today. A more than $100 million Southern yellow pine sawmill sits on 235 acres near Louisiana Highway 3, two miles outside of Plain Dealing.

“This is going to have a multi-generational effect on our communities,” Lamb said. “It’s going to employ 150 people, and that’s just the sawmill. Indirectly, people who were getting low prices for their timber are going to get higher prices. That creates severance tax revenue for the parishes. There are logging operations. There are vendors. There are all sorts of things that will generate economic growth.”

Rich Lamb saw a need for a sawmill in Bossier Parish.

How It Began

Lamb has a friend who designs and helps build sawmills. “His father and uncle were renowned in the sawmill design and construction business for many decades,” Lamb explained. Through that friendship, Lamb became aware that several Canadian companies were relocating to the southern United States to build sawmills due to the unfavorable business climate in Canada.

Lamb got to work, raising money and recruiting an operating partner. His first capital commitment came from his grandfather, Jack, who passed away earlier this year.

“I talked to other people I was close with, and that my family and I had done business with, who also owned timberlands, and they expressed interest in being part of something like that.”

The operating partner Lamb recruited was Teal Jones, one of those Canadian companies interested in having a sawmill in the southern U.S.

“This represents the largest international investment in Bossier Parish,” said Rocky Rockett, executive director and president of the Greater Bossier Economic Development Foundation. “We were able to put it in an economy — north Bossier Parish — that needed it and wanted it.”

David R. “Rocky” Rockett Jr.

Nervous Times

Teal Jones acquired 57% of the sawmill, with Lamb and his mostly local investors owning the remaining 43%. But in 2024, the Canadian company needed to sell.

“Because of the pricing environment, interest rate environment and political climate in Canada, Teal Jones got into financial distress and went into reorganization,” Lamb explained. “Our sawmill was not part of their reorganization, but they still needed to sell their 57% interest to get liquidity.”

Fortunately for Lamb and his group, a new buyer was found. Earlier this month, Sumitomo Forestry America Inc. purchased Teal Jones’ stake in the mill.

“Through their affiliates, they are the sixth-largest builder of multi-family homes, and the eighth-largest builder of single-family homes in the United States,” Lamb said. “This is going to be one of their primary sources of lumber.”

Why Plain Dealing? In October 2021, Rocky Rockett was given until the end of the year to assemble a package. Everything from finding a site to coordinating utilities. That wasn’t much time.

“We had done a site survey a few years prior to this project, to identify what properties would be available in large scale, and that we could translate into industrial park property when need be.”

The land where the sawmill sits fits the bill. “It was in the wood basket,” Rockett said.

“It was where a lot of timber work had been done in the past. A lot of timber had started to grow. A lot of timber companies were already in the immediate area, from north Bossier, north Caddo, south Arkansas, going over to Union Parish, where International Paper used to have a mill. So, they had a lot of woodstock in that area they could take advantage of, not to mention east Texas. There were a lot of things that were positive about that site.”

But like the investors, the town of Plain Dealing needed to have some skin in the game. That skin came in the form of more than $700,000 to get water and sewer lines to the property. $350,000 of that amount was secured by a state representative.

“They’re up and running, so we’ve got water bills coming in,” said Plain Dealing Mayor James Cook. “Plain Dealing is getting money from the water and sewer side of it.”

Eventually, the mayor hopes his town will experience some residual financial benefits from having the facility nearby.

“If the people who work at the mill eventually want to move into the town, that will be a shot in the arm. The logging truck drivers, if they will stop in some of our convenience stores and restaurants, we’ll get something off (the mill), just not directly.”

The mill is bringing life to an area that, business-wise, has been slowly dwindling.

“You’ve had a lot of closings up and around north Bossier Parish, going over to Springhill, Farmerville, and those areas along Highway 2,” Rocket said. “This was a good opportunity — a shot in the arm for those economies, those folks who wanted to step back into the manufacturing space. The employment base was there. You could actually pull a lot of people who already had some of the talents from working in the mills back into the market.”

It Wasn’t Easy

Sure, everything looks great now. But this project took time. A lot of time. And a lot of work.

“It was a very, very long effort,” Lamb said. “People think that just because we have a lot of land, you can build anything anywhere. No. Utilities have to line up.

The topography has to line up. The incentives have to line up.

The business environment has to line up, and the fiber has to line up. Our local investors own, control or manage a lot of timberland in the area. That was real attractive to Teal Jones, and (the new operating partner) when they bought out Teal Jones.”

And while the plant is now operational, it’s too soon for those who invested in Lamb’s idea to have recouped their investment.

“I will feel better when all the investors have their money back — when all the investors get distributions to cover their investment.

It’s been a very, very stressful four years, especially when Teal Jones filed for reorganization.”

Bossier Parish to reap the harvest from a vast supply of southern yellow pine.

Worth It All

When putting together the sawmill package, Rockett was speaking at a high school leadership program in Baton Rouge. He discussed plans for the mill, and it was there, at the other end of the state, where the mill’s significance struck home.

“I will never forget this,” Rockett said. “A little girl in the back of the class raised her hand and said, ‘Are you talking about Plain Dealing, Louisiana?’ I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ She said, ‘Is this somewhere my daddy can go to work?’ I said, ‘Yes, ma’am, it is.’

When I said that, three other students from Plain Dealing Academy raised their hands and asked me the same question. It was one of those moments where you say, ‘OK, this is something that’s real.’ This is something you can tangibly touch. This is an opportunity for people in that market who don’t get a lot of bite to the apple to have an opportunity like this.”

What’s Next?

Sumitomo Forestry has expressed interest in expanding the sawmill by utilizing additional acreage adjacent to the mill. As for Lamb, he likely has another project in him, but first, he has to come up for air.

“I need to digest this one. I think I need to reflect on what I’ve learned, good and bad, from this project before taking on something else. I also like being a lawyer.”