the Biewer Lumber family of ….
the Biewer Lumber family of companies which was established at their location in 1983 with their first sawmill in McBain, Michigan.
“We work with woodland owners to help them achieve their forest management goals,” Fueher said. “All landowners have specific goals for their property whether it is wildlife management, timber production or recreation just to name a few. Our main focus is pine species but we deal in all other species also. Some of the services that we provide are: writing management plans, timber marking, identifying cutting boundaries, and managing the entire process from sale set up to the harvesting of your timber. We have several logging contractors that do harvesting for us and we feel they are some of the best in the business. Our foresters are very active in many Forestry, landowner, industry groups and associations so we can stay up to date on our changing Forestry practices in the Midwest.”
Paige Sondelski, of Athens is the newest member of the Biewer’s Forestry Procurement team. She recently graduated from University of Wisconsin in Stevens Point with a bachelor’s of science in Forestry Management, with a certificate in timber marking. Sondelski is excited to be part of the Biewer family and the future of Wisconsin’s lumber industry.
“As part of Biewer’s commitment to sustainable forestry, we require that log suppliers complete core education programs that include training in: Water Quality, Wildlife management, Forest Silviculture Practices, Equipment Maintenance, Soil Conservation and Harvesting Techniques,” Fueher said.
John A. Biewer Co. of Wisconsin, a lumber treating operation, is located adjacent to the Biewer Wisconsin Sawmill. This facility services the Wisconsin, Minnesota, South and North Dakota and Iowa markets. The primary function for this treatment facility is residential and commercial treatment. Prentice has a stateof- the-art treatment plant that processes and treats products with an annual capacity of 35 million board feet annually.
Our approach, which we call “From Forest to Framework™” begins with the trees themselves. Foresters utilize state recommended best practices to manage red pine plantations. Harvested trees arrive at the Prentice sawmill, where they are debarked. The bark is then either used as fuel for our on-site boilers, which supply heat to our kilns, or sold as landscape mulch. Each debarked log is scanned and an optimizing computer determines the best yield for each log. This efficient process results in very little waste or unsaleable boards.
Lumber processed in our sawmills is heat-treated to eliminate transferable fungus and pests, thus protecting living trees. After it is cut, each board is surfaced at the planer. All of our finished products are stamped with a heat-treated Association stamp.
Processing lumber produces many by-products. Paper mills use the wood chips in the paper-making process, farmers use the shavings as animal bedding, and the sawdust is sold to produce wood flour or used on-site at Biewer as fuel to heat the boilers. Nothing is wasted.
By maintaining healthy and thriving forests, minimizing or eliminating waste in our mills, and ensuring that every part of a harvested tree is used, Biewer is putting into practice our deep commitment to preserving and protecting Wisconsin’s valuable forest resources, Ponsler said.
Kevin Ponsler, General Manager of Biewer Wisconsin Sawmill is pictured with recent retiree Duwayne Metzker. Metzker worked in Prentice as a bark residue loader.
