A lumber mill that has been operating in Toledo for 25 years was scheduled to shut down Thursday, the latest in mill closures this year in Oregon.
Western Cascade Industries’ mill, which employs 50 people at its 25-year-old site in Toledo, is slated to fully shut down Thursday. Employees were informed last week that the mill would be closing at the end of July, general manager Walt Adams told the Lincoln Leader newspaper. He told the paper the closure resulted from a timber market that has “just kind of been down across the board.”
Toledo City Manager Doug Wiggins said the mill was the town’s second-largest employer and was the last lumber mill remaining of the many that once operated in the town. Georgia-Pacific operates a large paper mill just across the Yaquina River from Western Cascade’s facility.
Other entities, Wiggins said, have been in conversation with the city and the mill to purchase it, but no deal emerged. He hopes a buyer will get the mill up and running again soon.
On the opposite end of the state, the last mill in Grant County announced last week it would close. Malheur Mill, which employs more than 70 in John Day will shut down after it processes and ships its remaining logs. The mill almost shut down in 2012, but intervention from government officials kept it afloat.
- The Oregonian/OregonLive
As disappointing as it must be for the citizens of Toledo who depend upon the Toledo mill for their income, and the resource it has been for timber sales and the production of wood-based products, as a neighbor on the coast, I’m feeling a sigh of relief for the reduction in the air and water pollution that this industry has been a major contributor of in our environment.
I usually avoid Toledo, but will now make a conscious effort to support businesses there to keep the financial flow in that area. I hope other neighbors do this as well.
Blessings to those individuals and families as they shift their focus to other livelihoods…hopefully something more life-sustaining and beneficial for us all.
Sincerely, Katrina