Neiman to Permanently Close its South Dakota Sawmill Due to Lack of Timber

Neiman Enterprises, a forest products company, will permanently close its sawmill in Hill City South Dakota, laying off 120 workers.

According to Neiman, the sawmill, known as Rushmore Forest Products, no longer has an adequate supply of timber.

Jim Neiman, CEO of Neiman Enterprises stated “I never thought I would see the day when we would be out of options to keep all our facilities running,”.

“Lumber markets have been exceptionally high for the past year and have broken all-time record highs. The problem here is purely a lack of timber available for purchase in the Black Hills, and we rely on the Forest Service for approximately 80% of our supply.” Neiman continued.

The United States Forest Service manages the region’s primary forest, the Black Hills, which encompasses 1.2 million acres of forestland.

For the past 53 years, the sawmill has been in operation. Neiman Enterprises bought the property from Continental Lumber in 1998 and renamed it Rushmore Forest Products. After converting from dimensional lumber to boards, the mill produced 60 million board-feet of ponderosa pine boards and pattern boards.

“If given the opportunity to purchase timber to keep the mill running, we would have done that, keeping the Hill City location running would be in the best interest of the forest and our communities over the long term.” said the Neiman Enterprises CEO.

Neiman also has facilities in South Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado, as well as a recently purchased Interfor mill in Gilchrist OR.