Stimson Lumber to trim 70 jobs at mill west of Gaston

CEO Andrew Miller blames construction slowdown for plans to close plant’s dimensional lumber unit in western Washington County

By Christian Gaston

The Forest Grove News-Times, Nov 4, 2009, Updated Nov 4, 2009 (7 Reader comments)

Andrew Miller

Chase Allgood / News-Times

About 70 employees at Stimson Lumber Co. learned last week that they will lose their jobs at the company’s mill near Hagg Lake.

The cuts will go into effect Jan. 11, 2009, with the closure of the plant’s dimensional mill. They represent about 20 percent of the company’s work force in its plant near Gaston.

With home construction at a virtual standstill, the need for dimensional lumber has dropped as well.

“The market for housing is severely depressed and unfortunately we have to adjust the size of our company to meet the market reality,” Stimson Chief Executive Officer Andrew Miller said.

The family-owned company, which is based in Portland, gave employees 60 days’ notice of the layoffs and will try to place them in its Tillamook or Clatskanie locations, Miller said.

But he isn’t hopeful that the positions will return to the Gaston mill, saying increasing regulation of public forest land reduces the amount of hardwood that the company can process.

“I’d say in the future, those jobs are unlikely to come back because by the time the market recovers you’ll see the Tillamook Forest supply disappear,” Miller said.

Boise, Inc. announced Monday that the company would halt pulp and free-sheet paper operations at its St. Helens mill, cutting 300 jobs.

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