West Fraser’s sawmill is located right off U.S. Highway 19 and is visible as soon as you enter the town of Perry.
The lumber company makes and ships wood products to areas across the state. But there’s one problem, the sawmill is no longer open.
West Fraser closed the plant last Friday because of “high fiber costs” and being in a “low-price commodity environment.” WFSU drove out to Perry following West Fraser’s closure and found that a lot of residents saw this coming.
“Following the decision in January 2023 to indefinitely curtail the Perry Sawmill in Florida, which saw a small crew kept onsite to maintain the mill, West Fraser is now moving to permanently close the mill by the end of March. The few remaining workers will complete their last shifts this week. The equipment will then be assessed for use elsewhere.”
Joyce Wagenaar, Director of Communications, West Fraser
“[It was] devasting news when we heard that West Fraser wasn’t going to open up again,” Taylor County Commissioner Thomas Demps said. “It was a blow to us when they closed it.”
No one is surprised by the company’s decision
According to a release, West Fraser began letting folks go last year. The company said the sawmill originally started with 126 employees but last January cut back operations, leaving just a handful of maintenance workers at the facility. But once Georgia Pacific shut its paper mill down in Perry following Hurricane Idalia, West Fraser decided not to reopen as well.
“My family depended on that mill,” said Commissioner Demps. “My dad worked there for years and I had a brother to work there. It’s been a great asset to this county.”
This is the first time Taylor County has been without a mill in over 100 years
Now that both plants are no longer running, Commissioner Demps said the people of Perry need somewhere to work.
He’s turning to the County’s Development Authority and the state Economic Development Council to help come up with a plan to bring jobs and money back to the agriculture town.
“They’re looking for a place to go and something to do,” said Demps.
What happens to Perry’s sawmill?
West Fraser hasn’t said if it plans to sell the sawmill, however a company spokesperson said the equipment will eventually be moved out and reused elsewhere. But if West Fraser decides to go that route, it may take a while.
Georgia Pacific’s papermill has been on the sellers’ block since November and it has yet to find a buyer. Meanwhile, the state and county are losing money.
According to the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Science, once the paper mill closed, Taylor County lost $370 million in local spending and was down 2,000 workers. The state missed out on $10 million in tax revenue.
“There’s a lot of ugly but there’s also a lot of opportunity,” state House Representative Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe, said.
Rep. Shoaf is working to secure jobs for the people impacted by the mill’s closure. He said he’s urging state agencies to house some offices in Taylor County to preserve and attract more people to the area.
“Even as far as reaching out to groups like Space Florida and trying to find partnerships with industries that are looking for a home with a highly skilled and trained workforce. Taylor County has that.”
Shoaf’s efforts come after the legislature recently approved nearly $3 million of the state’s budget to go towards the expansion of Big Bend Technical College. The program has been providing Floridians with special education and career training in the Big Bend region. It helps create jobs for students entering nursing and engineering fields.
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