Bearlodge Forest Products to Close Wyoming Mill After Nearly 50 Years
Bearlodge Forest Products will permanently close its sawmill and industrial pallet operations in Hulett, Wyoming, on October 31, 2026, ending a business that has operated since 1977 as accumulated pressure from high input costs, limited labor and housing availability and weaker product pricing makes continued operations unsustainable.
By Paul Ploumis
Published October 13, 2026
Key Points
- Closure date: October 31, 2026.
- Location: Hulett, Wyoming.
- Operating history: Bearlodge Forest Products has been in business since 1977.
- Operations affected: All sawmill and industrial pallet manufacturing activity.
- Reported output: More than 6 million board feet of lumber annually and more than 20,000 new industrial pallets per month.
- Main customers: Mining and manufacturing operations.
- Reasons cited: High input costs, limited labor, housing constraints and sustained downward pricing trends.
SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Bearlodge Forest Products will close all sawmill and pallet manufacturing operations in Hulett, Wyoming, at the end of October, bringing nearly five decades of family-owned forest-products production to an end.
The company said the closure reflects the accumulated effect of several economic pressures rather than a single event.
Those pressures include high input costs, difficulty securing labor, limited housing availability for workers and prolonged weakness in product pricing.
“No single issue brought us here; it was the weight of many,” the company said in announcing the decision.
ScrapMonster Exclusive: The Closure Removes More Than 240,000 Pallets of Annualized Capacity
Bearlodge’s closure matters beyond the loss of a small-town sawmill because its modern business is heavily concentrated in industrial pallets rather than commodity lumber.
The Hulett operation reportedly manufactures more than 20,000 new industrial pallets each month. At that production pace, the plant represents annualized capacity of more than 240,000 pallets.
Those pallets are not primarily consumer or retail products. Bearlodge says its customers include mines and manufacturing operations, and the company produces ISPM-15-compliant pallets used to move goods domestically and internationally.
The mill also processes more than 6 million board feet of lumber annually, making its shutdown relevant to contractors, timber suppliers and other businesses connected to the regional forest-products chain.
For customers, the issue is replacement capacity. Industrial pallets are frequently built to customer specifications, particularly for heavy or specialized loads. Buyers that relied on Bearlodge will therefore need alternative suppliers capable of matching dimensions, strength, heat-treatment and international-shipping requirements.
For Hulett, the impact is larger than the plant gate. Local officials have pointed to spending on vehicles, equipment, parts, welding, loaders and other services generated by forest-products businesses. That means the economic effect of the closure extends beyond Bearlodge’s direct workforce.
Bearlodge Has Operated in Hulett Since 1977
Bearlodge Forest Products traces its history to 1977 and describes itself as a third-generation family business.
The company is owned and managed by Doug and Dena Mills.
Over the decades, its product mix changed significantly.
Bearlodge says the business once concentrated primarily on sawn timbers with only limited pallet production. Over time, that relationship reversed, with the operation becoming predominantly a wholesale industrial pallet manufacturer while producing smaller volumes of timber products.
The company’s mill and office are located on Highway 24 in Hulett, in northeastern Wyoming’s Black Hills region.
Industrial Pallets Became the Company’s Core Business
Bearlodge specializes in new industrial pallets built to customer specifications.
Its pallets are used primarily by mining and manufacturing customers and include products certified under ISPM-15 requirements for international shipment.
The company says its pallets have been used to move products around the world.
| Bearlodge Operating Metric | Reported Level |
|---|---|
| Operating since | 1977 |
| Annual lumber processing | More than 6 million board feet |
| Monthly industrial pallet output | More than 20,000 units |
| Annualized pallet capacity at reported rate | More than 240,000 units |
| Closure date | October 31, 2026 |
No Single Factor Caused the Shutdown
Bearlodge emphasized that the closure should not be attributed to one specific market event.
The company identified four principal pressures:
- Higher input and operating costs
- Limited labor availability
- Insufficient local housing availability
- Sustained downward pressure on product pricing
The combination illustrates a problem faced by many smaller industrial businesses: even where customer demand remains, a plant can become difficult to operate when labor, input and fixed costs cannot be recovered through selling prices.
Bearlodge has not announced a bankruptcy filing or characterized the closure as a financial restructuring. The company has described it as a decision to end sawmill and pallet operations because of accumulated business pressures.
Closure Will Affect Hulett’s Industrial Base
The effect is particularly significant because Hulett is a small community where timber and agriculture have historically played important economic roles.
Hulett Mayor Brian Kennah told local media that the closure would leave the equivalent of about 5% of the town’s population looking for work.
Local officials described Bearlodge as a stable employer whose economic impact extended into other businesses through purchases of parts, equipment, vehicles, welding supplies and services.
Bearlodge is also one of relatively few pallet manufacturing operations in Wyoming.
The plant operates independently from the larger Hulett sawmill owned by Neiman Enterprises, although the two businesses have family connections through the Neiman family.
The Closure Also Removes a Regional Wood Consumer
A sawmill does more than produce finished lumber or pallets. It also creates a market for timber harvested from surrounding forests and supports contractors involved in cutting, hauling and managing that material.
Bearlodge has promoted both sustainable forestry and utilization of smaller-diameter wood.
The loss of a local processing outlet can therefore affect parts of the upstream forestry economy even when another sawmill remains operating in the region.
Local officials have separately raised concerns about timber availability and federal forest-management policies in the Black Hills.
However, Bearlodge did not identify reduced federal timber supply as a direct cause of its closure announcement. The company specifically cited input costs, labor and housing constraints and downward pricing trends.
That distinction is important when assessing the reasons behind the shutdown.
Wyoming Is Trying to Preserve Forest-Products Capacity
Wyoming has been working to expand forest-management projects through the federal Good Neighbor Authority, which allows states to help carry out work on federal lands using state contracting processes.
The state has also established forest-health grant programs intended to make certain timber projects more commercially viable.
State Forester Kelly Norris told local media that Wyoming has expanded its participation in contracted timber sales and continues working with the U.S. Forest Service and other partners on projects in the Bear Lodge Ranger District.
Those programs may support the broader regional timber sector, but they will not prevent Bearlodge’s announced October 31 shutdown.
Owners Say They Will Remain in Hulett
Doug and Dena Mills said the decision to close does not mean the family is leaving the community.
They emphasized the relationships developed over nearly five decades with employees, contractors, customers, vendors and residents.
The owners said they intend to continue living, working and contributing in Hulett after the mill closes.
The company’s announcement described the community as central to both the family and the history of the business.
What to Watch Next
Customer sourcing: Mining and manufacturing companies using Bearlodge’s custom industrial pallets will need to transition orders to alternative suppliers.
Pallet capacity: The closure removes more than 20,000 units of reported monthly pallet production from the Wyoming market.
Workforce: Local officials will be watching how quickly affected employees can find comparable year-round industrial employment in and around Hulett.
Regional timber demand: Contractors and wood suppliers will need to determine where material previously processed by Bearlodge can be sold.
Remaining Wyoming mills: Additional mill closures would further reduce local demand for timber and increase transportation distances for some forest products.
Industrial diversification: Hulett officials have indicated they will continue efforts to attract businesses that can provide year-round employment rather than increasing dependence on seasonal tourism.
ScrapMonster Market Read: Bearlodge is a relatively small operation by national forest-products standards, but that is precisely why the closure matters locally. A business processing more than 6 million board feet a year and producing over 20,000 specialized pallets a month supports far more than its own production line. It buys timber, pays contractors, purchases machinery and parts, supplies industrial customers and provides year-round employment in a small community. The closure therefore illustrates how sustained margin pressure can remove useful industrial capacity even without a single catastrophic market event. Once a specialized mill closes, rebuilding the workforce, supplier relationships and customer base later can be much harder than simply restarting the machinery.
Sources: Bearlodge Forest Products; Sundance Times; Cowboy State Daily; Lesprom Network.