The wildfire problem that killed this giant, was actually the small trees in the overstocked forest stand that surrounded it. This log was laying in the million-acre aftermath of a wildfire in the mountain west of the USA. Its natural adaptations to survive the regular fires in this forest type were overcome by the intensity of this blaze. The fire was kindled by hundreds of small trees on every acre, through a region with little active forestry and few sawmills. It was my first of many trips to volunteer in the rebuild, and seeing the destruction of these forests and small towns felt like a punch to the gut. As I met people trying to rebuild sawmill capacity, I realized my experience could help.
With 30 years experience linking up sawmills, prefab shops, and regional timber, it was time to tackle the problem
I knew from my lifelong work in the Northeast, that the small-log utilization equipment and know-how existed . The reality was, though: even if I could order a small log mill on the day of this picture, it would arrive too late. Even worse, it was too expensive. Industry consolidation trends give us larger mill projects, staffing levels that a small town can't meet ...plus an ecosystem of automation and controls industries that don't exist out here in the "sawmill desert". At the other end of the scale, many micro-mill projects tempt the small entrepreneurs, but then cannot stand up to a challenge of this scale. A new size class of mills was needed, with a "Goldilocks mix" of cost, labor efficiency, serviceability, and operational productivity.
Community-scaled mills as a solution: The vision for STIXmill grew over six trips in three years, with increasing urgency and frustration. Salvaging the burned material on this site didn't end up being possible. New wildfire crises came up in other areas. More conventional sawmills closed or moved to the south. I worked with families holding onto legacy mills with equipment that had served their dads and grandfathers well. They know: we live now in a different era of timber and of labor. The hardest towns to visit were the ones that remembered the glory days of the empty sawmill site in town. I became convinced that a new generation of mill options were needed.
A catalog of configurable facility options for each town began to take shape in sketch form as I returned to the wildfire zones. A large log line was added, then kilns and EWP recovery. A small team of mentors, advisors, and investors formed around the pre-engineered STIXmill catalog. A community champion RVCC emerged from the nonprofit sector in the mountain west. Sawmill families who needed to transform their facilities took an interest, and then we found key allies from within our industry.
Our model centers on a forest, a small town and its people. A well-designed and well-sited facility plan is a first step on a path, to re-establish some control of a community's own destiny. When operators are given the opportunity to become owners, we know they will also be building new careers and housing for their next generations. For the land-owners around, new mill capacities will also provide markets for forest restoration work, and help to stabilize forest health and wildfire resilience.
Honesty and humility in the face of the challenge ahead: Mill closures are in the news every week. Tackling new smaller mills is not a field full of success stories, either. But wildfires, forest health, and community redevelopment have created a unity where there was none. If your community or regional partnership is exceptionally ready to move forward with your own plan, we would like to help.
STIX is a small Vermont firm with mature, repeat clients in the master class of the North American mass timber and advanced wood structure industry. This won't change. Founder Eli Gould will continue his public, nonprofit role educating architects who want to use wood on a bolder scale. Our studio and knowledge sharing practices will keep linking new buildings back into the forest value chain. STIX will also continue working every year with nonprofit partners in hurricane rebuild zones and emerging markets in Latin America. We just won't be booking new clients while we focus on the strongest internal and advisory capacities for the STIXmill initiative.
The STIXmill initiative is committed to a path that allows community scale and ownership of wood utilization facilities. The cost:value requirements to allow this commitment are unique, and will require continuous support for the communities to build that capacity. The co-founder of this initiative, Laurel Harkness, took up her role as a catalyst in the working landscapes she served through the the nonprofit organization Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition (https://www.ruralvoicescoalition.org/) RVCC works primarily in the mountain west but also throughout the country where their core services in stewardship economies can be supported. Their proven focus on positive community outcomes puts them in the lead role with communities, philanthropic partners, and the public sector. Our STIXmill team is glad to join their process and mission, whenever there's a wood utilization facility goal.
Commitment drives collaboration with the best advisors A full advisory team and partner page is coming soon. We hope it can to do justice to the expertise of eight key professional disciplines. Many of them have been our key mentors and lifelong colleagues. We have retained experts in: fire and life safety codes, industrial design, structural timber engineering, grading, automation, cogeneration, and value-add processing technologies.
An industrial partner page will also be coming soon to highlight the exceptional equipment manufacturers who are prequalified as options in the STIXmill catalog of designs for facilities.
Everyone on the team believes in the same core mission: We are not just consulting; we are ready to oversee the development of a new generation of sawmill projects. Our requirements are for a minimum of overseas components, maximum durability, and simple rugged design. We aim for a price point that local owners can afford to purchase, and we help them build up equity with local material and talent.
Capabilities on the sawmill project development team
22 years of service to automated wood structure industry have equipped the STIX studio with Swiss 3D manufacturing software to turn your building designs into pre-cut timber-frame kits. Our BIM studio manager Andrea coordinates the building structure, services, safety, and controls. Our civil/site/industrial project manager Ailen serves your site, bid plans, and commissioning as. On the product management side, Josefina supports mill owners with our customized digital tech for mill-level EPDs.
Not every equipment line is built for business at this scale:
Eli will keep searching the globe for the best equipment, at an exacting mix of cost to value to productivity and labor efficiency. We are vendor neutral but we need to specify the best options in a tough category, so if you think you manufacture equipment or have expertise that we should be using, contact us below.