day two
Sierra Pacific Industries’ Burlington Sawmill and Biomass Cogeneration Plant employs 250 people making wood products in Skagit County. They use the sawdust and other woody biomass byproducts to generate 25 megawatts of renewable electricity to run their plant and power about 19,000 nearby homes.
SPI is the third largest lumber producer in the United States. The fourth-generation, family-owned company’ s mills in Washington can produce 1.4 billion board feet of lumber per year. SPI employes over 1,000 Washingtonians, paying over $ 85 million in wages in 2024.
As a vertically integrated company, SPI grows its own seedlings, sustainably manages its timberlands( including 140,000 acres of forest in the area around its Burlington plant), manufactures wood products, creates power using wood waste, and replants seedlings to do it all over again.