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Hunt Forest Products/ Tolko Industries

Urania/Central Region

The Mission 

Hunt Forest Products is a full-service wood products and sustainable forestry company founded in 1978 in Ruston, Louisiana, that manufactures a variety of plywood, lumber, and other specialty wood products. Tolko Industries is a 60-year-old, family-owned Canadian forestry company that produces a wide range of products for customers around the world, including lumber, plywood and veneer oriented-strand-board co-products and biomass power.

The Challenge

Hunt Forest Products sought to create a joint venture with Tolko Industries to modernize its Louisiana operations, provide a local outlet for the massive inventory of southern yellow pine that exists in the region, and meet the growing demand for biomass at the Drax wood pellet plant in LaSalle Parish.

The Opportunity

Louisiana offered a competitive incentive package that included:

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Recruitment and training support from Louisiana’s nationally recognized workforce development program, LED FastStart.

Performance-based, forgivable loan of $1 million from the Economic Development Award Program to offset the cost of constructing a rail spur for the mill.

Qualified 80-percent property tax abatement for up to 10 years through the state’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program, contingent on meeting job creation and payroll commitments.

Up to a 6 percent rebate on annual payroll expenses for up to 10 years, and a 1.5 percent project facility expense rebate for qualifying expenses, through the state’s Quality Jobs program.

Recruitment and training support from Louisiana’s nationally recognized workforce development program, LED FastStart.

Performance-based, forgivable loan of $1 million from the Economic Development Award Program to offset the cost of constructing a rail spur for the mill.

Qualified 80-percent property tax abatement for up to 10 years through the state’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program, contingent on meeting job creation and payroll commitments.

Up to a 6 percent rebate on annual payroll expenses for up to 10 years, and a 1.5 percent project facility expense rebate for qualifying expenses, through the state’s Quality Jobs program.

The Outcome

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2018

Hunt and Tolko, operating under the name LaSalle Lumber Company LLC, constructed a state-of-the-art mill in Urania, a LaSalle parish community in the heart of Louisiana’s $11 billion a year forest products industry.

$115 Million

capital investment

107

direct new jobs

307

indirect new jobs

350

retained jobs at Hunt Forest Products’ existing facilities in LaSalle and Grant parishes

2018

Hunt and Tolko, operating under the name LaSalle Lumber Company LLC, constructed a state-of-the-art mill in Urania, a LaSalle parish community in the heart of Louisiana’s $11 billion a year forest products industry.

$115 Million

capital investment

107

direct new jobs

307

indirect new jobs

350

retained jobs at Hunt Forest Products’ existing facilities in LaSalle and Grant parishes

“We are excited about this partnership with Hunt Forest Products and being able to leverage the innovative approach of having a sawmill located next to our newest sustainable wood pellet facility, LaSalle Bioenergy. This makes perfect sense for our business model, lowers our carbon footprint, and is an incredibly efficient, cost-effective way to capitalize on wood residuals.”

– James D. Hunt, owner, Hunt Forest Products Manager

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