Photos By Chris Fehr
Lexington, KY– Members and guests of the Hardwood Manufacturers Association (HMA) recently convened here at the Embassy Suites Coldstream for the association’s annual spring regional meeting.
The event included tours of multiple lumber facilities.
The first tour stop was at BPM Lumber in London, KY. BPM’s four modern, state-of-the-art mills—located in the heart of Eastern Kentucky—combine to create a consistent, reliable and quality product, and have an annual production capacity of 100 million board feet. Learn more at www.BPMlumber.com.
Next, in nearby East Bernstadt, the HMA group visited Cumberland Cooperage. In 1958, C.B. and Imogene Robinson opened a small stave mill in southeastern Kentucky. Today, still family-owned, and known throughout the industry for their quality Oak bourbon barrels, they secure renewable White Oak logs from all over the Southeast; turn them into staves to produce 53-gallon barrels, then char the insides of each barrel to provide the distinctive color and taste for some of the best-known bourbons in the world. To learn more, visit www.RobinsonStave.com.
The group lunched at Somerset Pellet Fuel Operations in Somerset, KY.
Next stop was Kentucky Hardwood Lumber, also in Somerset. Merrick Hardwoods is a vertically integrated forest products company and one of the largest manufacturers of Appalachian lumber and Hardwood flooring in the United States. The company processes kiln-dried Red Oak, White Oak, Ash, Hickory, Hard and Soft Maple, Cherry, Poplar and Basswood lumber into residential Hardwood flooring. Excess wood fiber and sawdust collected throughout the flooring manufacturing process supplies their state-of-the-art wood pellet division. Find more details at www.somersetwood.com.
At the end of the first day of tours, attendees enjoyed a reception and dinner back at the Embassy Suites while Bob Bauer, executive director of the Kentucky Forest Industries Assoc., gave a presentation.
The next morning, a tour of GreenTree Forest Products wrapped up the regional meeting. GreenTree Forest Products was established in 1990, and produces 20 million feet of quality Appalachian Hardwoods annually. GreenTree Forest Products is owned and operated by the 3rd and 4th generations of the JC Wells Family. Visit www.GreentreeForest.com for more details.
The Hardwood Manufacturers Association is the only national trade organization with membership limited to Hardwood sawmills and lumber concentration yards located in the U.S.
Learn more at www.hmamembers.org.
