New man plans to revolutionise forestry

Lee Johnston Jr believes his company and its partners can revolutionise the forestry sector in Ireland.

He has arrived on from Canada in the aftermath of storm Éowyn bringing with him teams of men, machinery and decades of experience in the timber trade.

You could argue he is a businessman with a good eye for an opportunity but, he would describe himself as someone who, in life, always looks for a way to turn a bad situation into a good one.

It’s no surprise then that this Canadian lumber man thinks: “Éowyn is a good thing. It has been good for the Ireland because it will kick-start a thriving, successful, business in timber production and exports from this island to the rest of the globe.”

Cavan roots

“It’s the force of nature and in my opinion, it’s kinda a good thing because Ireland is about to learn about its potential as a forestry nation and how there is a global market for Irish timber.

“You could argue that, if Éowyn hadn’t happened, then what comes next in Ireland might not have happened for years to come.”

And Lee has positioned his company on these shores so that LJR will lead the way in Ireland’s timber evolution.

“We are here to stay,” he told the Celt.

“We’ve rented tiny ports like Dundalk and Sligo, we are shipping machines in from Canada and Europe, we are hiring as many local men and we have brought men over from countries like Poland, Germany, Estonia and Finland. Local men are buying trucks to deal with the work we will be sending their way.”

Lee highlights how one of his partners gives his men €50 a day for meal expenses. “That means scores of men working in this locality will be living, renting or buying homes (although there are not many for rent from what I can see), paying taxes, and spending money in local shops, restaurants and hotels every day.”

He added: “We will be spending €100,000 a week in fuel for our machinery once we are in full generation.”

The plan

So, what does “full generation” look like?

“At present a handful of sawmills in Ireland have the capability to process about 4–5m cubic metres of timber,” Lee explains.

“Éowyn blew down 12m cubic metres but the sawmills can still only process what they can. That’s where we come in,” he continues.

“We will clear trees off farmers’ lands with our machines, our contractors and our expertise. In the process, we will pay farmers a fair and transparent price, create local jobs, buy parts for our machines, spend in local shops, rent space in ports that were almost empty.

“It’s a bit of a boast but also true to say there’s only one to two degrees of separation between me in LJR and my partners Fornello of Finand and JJK Forests in Estonia, and every other timber partner on the globe.”

When asked who his customers Lee simply responded: “The IKEA and Home Depots of this world and ultimately, you, the end user of furniture.”

Cut down timber has three uses: Sawlogs which are used for construction and furniture production across the world, pallet and pulp, which are self-explanatory.

Time is ticking

There is an ideal timeframe by which forestry owners must lift their fallen trees and get them sold.

Fallen trees lose moisture through time and in conditions like dry, hot, sunny weather, like we’ve just had in Ireland, the bark beetle thrives killing wood from the inside out. And that pest reproduces twice a year in such conditions.

“Right now, and for the next three to six months,” Lee explains, “the quality of the fallen trees in Ireland will remain, but trees need to be lifted as quickly as possible for farmers to receive a good price.

“If it takes more than 12 months, the quality is halved and so is the price,” he goes on. “You can still sell the wood that is dried out or has blue staining but, if your sawlog gets downgraded to pallet, then downgraded to pulp, then that’s how the scale of your payments work also. You go from €100 to €10.

“That is where we come in.”

LJR seeks to offer fair and transparent prices. “I pay by the volume not by the weight,” adds Lee.

So, even if your timber has lost moisture and therefore some of its weight you are still getting paid by the volume.

“Ireland has the potential to be the number one producer of high quality wood products in Europe,” Lee Johnston claims with confidence.

“We are here to stay now,” he further claims. “I’m not just going to take the money and run. LJR has plans to re-forest. To plant, manage and bring a return for to farmers for their forested land.

“I’m a farmer,” Lee Johnston says. “I come from those roots. I want to turn the forest industry in Ireland into what it should be.”