Flagstaff, Arizona (AZ Family) — The Southwest’s largest sawmill officially opened Tuesday. Just outside Flagstaff.
This will support Coconino County’s mission to restore forests to prevent large-scale wildfires.
Since 2010, wildfires have burned more than 250,000 acres in Coconino County.
Coconino County Flood Management District Community Relations Manager Sean Golightly The county said it takes the wildfires and their effects very seriously.
“Wildfires and post-wildfire flooding are the two greatest public safety threats in Coconino County,” Golightly said.
The prefecture also US Forest Service They spend tens of millions of dollars on forest restoration, such as prescribed burning and thinning, which can be very expensive in and of itself.
Forest Restoration Director Jay Smith in Coconino County Public Works Without the mill, he said, the cost to the county could be even higher without any wood being used.
“Either the wood has little value, or if you try to remove the biomass, it costs more than just the wood to get out of the forest,” Smith says.
restorative forest products will invest $120 million to open the sawmill, which will create 170 local jobs.
golightly said this brand new Belmont Sawmill will revolutionize local forest regeneration.
Processes 120 million wood plank feet That’s enough to help restore approximately 30,000 acres of forest each year.
“Once you cut down that tree, you have to have something to do with that tree,” Golightly said. “It is very difficult to make progress in reforestation without some connection to the wood and biomass that results from reforestation projects.”
But this is just one piece of the puzzle. The county is also working to prevent flooding after wildfires, and the federal government is paying close attention.
Dr. Homer Wilkes, USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs He was in Coconino County to cut the ribbon on the factory and see $100 million in federal grants for post-wildfire flood prevention.
“So to see this effort being done here to protect this community is something we’re all striving to do to make sure it’s done in a very timely manner. ” Wilkes said.
Wilkes said there will be a major federal announcement in Flagstaff next week based on the Coconino County Fire and Flood Protection Project.
“Most of these places are just the tip of what we want to do. It starts here. This is an example we can leverage,” Wilkes said.
Under Secretary Wilkes is scheduled to travel to Phoenix on Thursday to sign an agreement to expand forest restoration on federal lands.
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