So I think there’s been some discussion around those that have shut down and there have been some that have. But what we’ve seen is, also, there are mills that were running at lower operating rates that have picked back up that capacity. And some of those mills have been in our — favorable to our market wood baskets. So that’s why we’re feeling pretty good about what we see. And as we’ve moved out of Q4 and into Q1, we’ve seen those operating rates tick up. We’ve seen demand improve and seeing some pricing opportunities along there also. And additionally, kind of over the near-term, as Mark mentioned before, about the wet weather and El Nino, we typically position ourselves to be there to provide wood whatever those the conditions persist and investing capital in our roading systems, and we believe those investments will drive some benefits as we go forward in this kind of El Nino spring.
David Nunes: Mike, another thing I’d add to that is that keep in mind that some of these facilities that have been shut down may indeed end up converting into future fiber uses in the context of the growing demand for bioenergy. And so why you don’t expect that to be necessarily a short-term phenomenon, we think longer-term, you’ll see some recovery in those markets as those uses of the fiber change.
Douglas Long: Yes, I would agree with Dave. Given, for example, the one in Orange, Texas, given the proximity of refineries and ports in Texas and Louisiana, I don’t think there’s going to be a long-term structural shift in pulpwood demand in that market. And this closure may actually, as Dave said, turning to a catalyst for new types of demand. Anecdotally, we’ve heard of multiple nontraditional users who expressed interest in that area. So I do think it’s some short-term maybe headwinds, but medium- to long-term, I think it’s an opportunity for new markets.
Unidentified Analyst: Perfect. That was very helpful. I appreciate it. You guys dialed in my follow-up as well. I guess you’ve been hearing about the alternative uses in the biomass, bioenergy. Have you to the extent you can comment connected with any potential customers on that? Or is that something you can talk about?
Douglas Long: Yes, I can’t talk specifically about that, but I can say that we’re in lots of discussions with many potential users of wood fiber that would be for products that are non-traditional.
Unidentified Analyst: Got it. Thank you very much. Thanks for the color guys. I’ll turn it over.
Operator: Thank you. The next question comes from Buck Horne. Your line is open.
Buck Horne: Hey thanks, good morning guys. Quickly, great color on the alternative uses in the biomass. Curious if you’ve also explored any additional optionality on solar projects or solar leases? Or what are your thoughts about utilizing more land for land leases around solar usage?
Douglas Long: Yes. This is an area we’re very active in, and we’ll speak more about that in our upcoming Investor Day. But sure, we see a significant growth in demand for land for solar and particularly large tracks of land that are close to markets as well as have the capacity for power lines and space in the grid. So certainly we built a team around and we explore that and have a lot of interest and a lot of opportunities for that and continue to work on that and share more about that at our Investor Day.
Mark McHugh: Buck, I’d also note that a lot of that activity, especially in the U.S. South on the solar front, utility scale solar that is really concentrated in Texas and Florida. And if you look at the proportion of our land base in the South, it’s in those 2 states, we think we’ve got a really good opportunity, both on an absolute basis and on a relative basis relative to other timberland owners.
Buck Horne: Awesome. Great. And on the Wildlight new entitlements there. So I maybe ran through this a little bit too quickly. Could you run that by me again in terms of how many additional residential lots you guys were able to get entitlement for at Wildlight?
David Nunes: Sure. This is Dave. If you go back to the initial entitlements at Wildlight, we had roughly 3,300 residential units and 6.2 million square feet of commercial space on approximately 2,900 acres. And since that time, from those initial entitlements, we’ve sold roughly 63% of the residential units, entitlement and 33% of the commercial space. So we still have a decent amount left, roughly 1,200 residential units and 4.2 million square feet of commercial space. The new entitlement will add nearly 15,000 additional residential units and 1.4 million additional square feet of commercial space to the project. And we’ve worked on this for a number of years, and we’re really excited to have this completed and have the entitlement approved.
And Wildlight has — particularly in the post-COVID environment has enjoyed a tremendous success and is drawing more and more interest from major homebuilders and retailers. And we believe that the new entitlement will both — will help us to both improve our sales absorption pace as well as provide a runway for many, many years’ worth of future sales. So we’re super excited about it. And it’s just — it’s fun to see all the changes going on here.
Buck Horne: Yes. No doubt. Well, congratulations, that’s a big deal. So good job, guys. Thanks for the color.
Operator: Thank you. There are no other questions at this time.
Collin Mings: This is Collin Mings. I’d like to thank everybody for joining us. Please contact us with any follow-up questions.
Operator: Thank you. That does conclude today’s conference call. We appreciate your participation. Have a wonderful rest of your day, and you may disconnect.
