MN Representatives Tour Timber Industry

Vinny Wood, Peter Wood, MN State Representative Natalie Zeleznikar, 3B from Hermantown, MN State Representative Ned Carroll, 42A from Plymouth, MN. Rep. Zeleznikar hosted Rep. Carroll for Minnesota Legislative Exchange. They visited with loggers in Brimson, MN, the location of the Camp House Fire, which burned over 12,000 acres in May 2025 and destroyed more than 150 structures. October 28, 2025.

MN Representatives Tour Timber Industry

MN State Representative Natalie Zeleznikar, 3B from Hermantown, was in-studio; MN State Representative Ned Carroll, 42A from Plymouth, MN, via phone; and Pete Aube, Chair of the Minnesota Forest Resources Council from Bemidji, MN, via phone, on the November show of Let the Sawdust Fly.

As part of the Minnesota Legislative Exchange, legislators from different parties spend a couple of days in each other’s districts to understand their economy and build relationships, Rep. Zeleznikar gave Rep. Carroll a tour of her district and our timber industry, including a tour of Sappi, LP Building Solutions, and a stop at Peter Wood’s jobsite in the Camp House Fire area.

Rep. Carroll was in awe seeing logging equipment in action for the first time. Carroll described during the show, “Well I've never met a logger, let alone spend time with one, I just was quite taken with the whole process. I saw a massive amount of machinery and power. It's just an incredible engineering feat to even create this machine (feller buncher), let alone operate it.”

Rep. Zeleznikar stated, “I have learned that the timber industry is a part of clothing, supplies, fuel, and so many other things that never crossed my mind. To see the forest industry from the beginning to the end was very helpful and eye-opening, even though I've lived in Minnesota my entire life.”

Carroll described, “I was just so taken with the enormity of the timber industry and how it impacts almost everything that we do, from something as simple as labels to other paper products. Visiting the Sappi facility was an amazing experience. I had never been to one before, and I was quite taken with it, as I was with your operation. I come from a background of conservation; I'm an Eagle Scout, so I take protecting the environment seriously. I was very pleased to find out from Peter how you guys take care of the forest.

It's your resource, it's our resource, but you guard it jealously, you're like a farmer in that way. The farmers are the best stewards of the land, and I grew up in Northwest Iowa, farm country. I know the farmers there need to have that land be productive for years and years, and generations and generations, so there is certainly an interest in their part to take care of things, and I got that from you as well.”

Rep. Zeleznikar commented on the destruction left by the wildfires, “My mind goes to what can we do? We have all these trees that are just burnt. Can we use them for anything? Can the timber industry use these burnt trees? It makes me ask more questions because I'm understanding it more.”

There is a solution. Forest management. Most of the trees burnt in the May fires were dead, dry standing balsam caused by spruce budworm, providing a perfect kerosene for a wildfire. Forest management begins years earlier by our loggers keeping our forests alive and healthy.

Pete Aube, forester, retired Manager of Potlatch’s Bemidji Sawmill, and current Chair of the Minnesota Forest Resources Council, which develops policy recommendations directly to the MN Governor, stated, “Minnesota forests are a powerful climate solution. Forestry can play in every sector, and everything it touches turns green. I say that out of science: we're the only net-negative sector in the state, and net negative to the tune of 20 million tons, which consumes 15% of the entire carbon emissions. Markets are critical to everything we can do to keep our forests healthy and not burning, releasing that carbon.”

Markets have dwindled in the last twenty years. In 2005, the total harvest in MN was 3.7 million cords; in 2023, it was 2.56 million cords, resulting in a 31% decrease due to mill closures. The trees continue to grow, but due to fewer mills, the management of these lands is reduced. Our forests need more markets to stay healthy. Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), making jet fuel from wood biomass, could be the next major market to manage our forests.

Pete Aube pointed out:

• “Everything that you can get out of a barrel of oil, you can get out of a cord of wood.

• Petroleum is cytogenetic, wood is biogenic.

• Our pulp and paper industries are really biorefineries.

• As we worry about carbon intensity to bring that carbon intensity down, there's no fuel, no feedstock that beats wood.

• Petroleum has a carbon intensity of 100, corn is 70, soybeans are 58, and wood is 8.

• Our forests are net negative, burning it in a boiler gets you net neutral, which is where we're heading for 2050.

• If you want net zero, invest in net negative, invest in forestry, invest in forest retention, reforestation, management, and the use of harvested wood products, which are less carbon intensive.”

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