Meeting Agenda for Friday, December 8th, 2023, 9-11am*

Zoom Link for Virtual Attendees
9:00-10:00  Program: “Regional Effects of the Pactiv Evergreen Paper Mill Closure”
Bill Yarborough Retired Soil & Water Conservationist Bill Yarborough will present on the impacts of the closure of Canton’s Pactiv Evergreen mill in March 2023 and the implications that it may have for forestry and wildlife interests within a 200-mile radius. The closure will likely mean the loss of small sawmills and loggers that feed these mills.

Many landowners today use their forestland as their 401K or emergency funding, so the price of even high-grade timber is reduced without the paper mill taking low-grade timber. But there are even farther-reaching implications, including the irreversible loss of productive and important farmland - reduced timber and land values and a crippled market may force landowners to sell to the highest bidder,
which in recent years has been developers.

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