28 YEARS AGO, JOHN ZUKLEY AND BOB SHARP HAD A VISION.

As forest product companies were going global and exporting more products to other countries, they were dropping assets, such as company logging crews. That’s when the two foresters and former colleagues formed Mobile Forest Products, Inc., (later to become Mobile Forest Products & Biomass, Inc.) Their mission was to replace those assets for the mills at a lower cost.

The Start Up

1984: Began buying tracts of timber and selling the wood to local mills. Opened a woodyard in Citronelle, Ala., to store wood, mostly shortwood, for the surrounding mills. Expanded to Mississippi to serve mills in Leaf River and New Augusta areas.

1985:   Purchased a used tractor trailer. It was evident that they needed a dependable trucking outfit to haul forest products.

1986 – 1990: Purchased the first new truck and continued to slowly grow their fleet of trucks and trailers to meet the demands of the local market.

One Door Closes While a Couple More Open

1991: Closed the Citronelle Woodyard as the demand for shortwood was being replaced by tree-length wood.

1991 – 1995: Began hauling sawmill by-products for a number of timber companies and sawmills in the area.

1996: Launched its Recycling and Grinding Division to grind “recycled” or leftover wood material from tree services, landfills, construction sites, and remanufacturing operations.

1998: Acquired a wealth of talent for its expanding operations. “By taking advantage of the Scott Pulp Mill closure, we acquired a number of well qualified employees, many of which are still with us today,” according to Zukley.

Biomass Business Pick Up

2001:  The need for biomass increased considerably for use in wood burning boilers, wood pellet mills and the exporting of biomass to foreign countries.

2008: Sold the timber brokerage division to another company to concentrate more on the transportation and biomass aspects of its business. Bob Sharp, co-founder of MFP, went to work for the purchaser. Started first harvesting crew with a focus on tracts that were heavy to biomass.

2010: Changed name to Mobile Forest Products & Biomass, Inc.

Today:  Experts in producing and transporting wood biomass fuels and other forest product materials with five divisions and over one hundred employees.