NATCHEZ — The local timber industry is looking up and not just because the trees are tall.

Experts in the local timber industry said their business wasn’t immune to the economic decline that has plagued the nation for the past year, but said money is starting to grow on trees a little faster now.

“I’m not going to say we are out of the woods just yet, but I think we are close,” said Conner House, a forester at Good Hope Timber in Natchez.

Good Hope specializes in buying timber and land, custom logging and timber land management.

Vidal Davis, owner of Good Hope Timber, said one of the benefits to working in the timber industry is that wood has a variety of uses. That gives the seller the chance to shop the product to get the best price.

“That’s called timber merchandising,” Davis said. “We can take whatever direction necessary to get the best dollar. If the best use is railroad ties we will take it in that direction. If it is best in drag line mats, we will take it there.”

House said he feels the industry as a whole is ready to plane off and stabilize, which he said is good for Adams County because it has a large number of people are employed in the timber industry.

House said his optimistic outlook isn’t just blind hope though. He said, working in the field every day, he sees the market changing.

“We haven’t been getting the bad news nearly as regular,” he said.

Bruce Reynolds with Rives and Reynolds Lumber Company in Natchez said the forest products business in Adams County is not different than it is statewide. He said it is important to the economy at a local level and at a state level.

“The forest products industry, and its related industries, is probably the second largest industry in the state,” Reynolds said. “And locally it is a far reaching industry.”

And even while the economy struggled, House said he remained busy.

“There has always been work,” he said. “We continue to be busy.”

House said he believes there are a couple of reasons the work has continued even though timber hasn’t been fetching as high a price as it once did — physical need and monetary need on the part of the seller.

Timber runs in cycles and the time comes when it just has to be cut, House said.

“We also have a fair amount of people who are selling because they need the money,” House said. “People who don’t necessarily need the money are trying to wait, but we are still busy.”

Davis said there is only a limited amount of time that a land owner can wait to sell though.

“People need to thin and it becomes necessary at different times for different people,” Davis said. “There is a time, whether the economy is good or bad, that the vitality of the stand calls for it to be thinned.

“If you sit around and wait, you are losing money because you aren’t taking care of the timber.”

But finding timber to harvest is only half the battle. The next step is finding somewhere for timber companies to sell their product.

But even that could be getting easier. A coated paper mill in St. Francisville, La., that has been closed since July 2007 has been sold.

The Louisiana mill was owned by Tembec USA, LLC., a subsidiary of Canada based, Tembec Inc. Tembec announced the $16 million sale on April 15.

The buyer is listed as West Feliciana Acquisition, LLC, which House said is associated with PanAmerican Capital Group.

House said the new buyer does have plans to reopen the mill, but is not sure of the timeline.

“We used to do a good bit of business when the mill was Tembec, and I’m sure when the get up and running again, we will do business over there again,” he said.

If the mill does reopen, Davis said the effects will be far reaching. He said not only will it put more people to work at the mill but the timber industry should experience a higher demand, too.

“A higher demand for pulp wood directly relates to a higher demand for timber,” Davis said. “The higher the demand, the more people it puts to work.”

A new place to sell timber and timber products is a bright spot for many people in Adams County, House said.

“When you figure the indirect impact the timber industry has on the economy of this county, from fueling and transporting to all the families involved in logging some way, it is large,” House said.

“Overall it is still a fruitful and healthy industry,” House said. “(It is) one of the top industries we have.”

And Reynolds said because of the number of people and jobs impacted by the timber industry, it is vital that the industry remain strong.

“Just from an employment standpoint, (the industry) is important,” Reynolds said. “When I’m running wide open I have employed as many as 75 people and others have more. Then you look at the pulp wood and other mills in the area and that is a huge percentage (of people).”