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Whatever
Happened...
Question: What ever happened to the proposal by Tradewinds Forest Products to build a veneer mill on the Big Island for plywood fabrication? Veneer mill on
Big Island may soon
get final approvalAnswer: Tradewinds will reach an agreement with the state "in the foreseeable future" that will make the business possible, said Tradewinds head Don Bryan.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources announced in June 1999 that it had accepted Tradewinds' proposal to harvest nonnative trees planted on 8,000 acres in the Waiakea Timber Management Area south of Hilo in the 1960s.
The preliminary agreement included building a $25 million veneer mill starting in 2002. But Tradewinds' financing fell through in September 1999.
The company is ready for a final agreement, and was set to meet with the Board of Land and Natural Resources in October, Bryan said. The Land Board postponed the meeting due to other matters, and Tradewinds is waiting for a new meeting date, he said.
"We are on target in our process," he said.
In October, opponents of harvesting other nonnative timber in the Hamakua District circulated emails against Tradewinds.
"Hamakua isn't even on the horizon," Bryan responded.
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