“With the opening of the sawmill, we will be continuing to invest in our most valuable resource — the people in our hometown and throughout the entire Wiregrass,” said Jimmy Rane, Great Southern’s owner, president and CEO.

“This state-of-the-art facility is not just about producing the highest quality wood products, it is about empowering people to provide a better life for their families and building a stronger, more prosperous community for all of us.”

The facility, which received its first load of logs on July 8 and currently employs 65 people will utilize 40-45 truckloads of locally sourced logs per day.

Over the next 12 to 15 months, the sawmill will increase production and employ 115.  At that time, the facility will repurpose 80 to 90 truckloads of logs per day.

Abbeville Fiber represents one in a series of significant forest products industry investment projects in Alabama recently.

Last year alone, the industry launched Alabama growth projects valued at $1.3 billion and creating nearly 2,000 jobs, according to Alabama Department of Commerce data.

Over the last five years, economic development projects in the forest products industry have attracted more than $5 billion in new capital investment and over 6,000 jobs in Alabama, the data show.

These project are also adding fuel to Alabama’s efforts to advance economic development in the state’s rural areas, which saw a record level of activity in 2018 — $1.1 billion in new investment and more than 1,100 jobs in counties with fewer than 25,000 residents.