MAINE MONITOR • February 8, 2026
Business is humming at Pleasant River Lumber’s sawmill in Enfield and has been for a while even as other forest products manufacturers, such as paper and pulp mills, have experienced financial upheaval. Pleasant River Lumber has invested more than $100 million to build and upgrade the Enfield mill since 2020. While Maine’s timber harvests have steadily declined in recent decades, sawlog production, particularly of softwood species such as spruce, pine and fir, increased between 2010 and 2020. Demand has since slowed, but the co-owners said the tariffs on Canadian lumber imports that the Trump administration increased last year have given them the confidence to expand business in Maine. Not all members of the Maine lumber industry are as bullish on the tariffs. An industry analyst and two other mill leaders said that inflation and a sputtering housing market make it unclear whether the tariffs will have a positive effect on business in the long run.