Sawmill shutdown may last six weeks

A day after F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. announced a temporary closure of its sawmill, Vice President and General Manager Chuck Roady explained the reason simply.

"We just need to sell some lumber," Roady said Wednesday. Evaporating national markets are making that nearly impossible.

The layoffs of 45 to 50 workers will take effect on Feb. 2. Roady said he doesn't expect the number to reach as high as 50 in this round.

"Once we take the woods crew and log yard down," there will be a few more layoffs, he said. "I think it could get up to 50 or 60 people eventually."

Lumber drying, planing and shipping operations will continue "as long as operationally feasible," the company said in a prepared statement. Logging operations will continue into mid-February to fill the log yard with enough material to restart production when markets improve.

Stoltze's total work force at the mill varies between 125 and 130 people, Roady said.

It was a rough decision to call for the shutdown that may last for six weeks at the longtime family operation northwest of Columbia Falls, Roady said. But when employees got the two-week advance notice on Jan. 20, he said none of them was really surprised.

"We have super employees, and they've all been so good about it," Roady said. "They see all the other mills go down," and Stoltze is one of the final holdouts.

"There's just no demand for the product now," Roady said. "You've got to sell what you're putting out the back door. You can only build up the inventory you can sell - that inventory is all money sitting out there."

Despite the gloomy construction forecast, he is hoping this spring will spur a more normal market to some degree.

"Nationwide you normally have an uptick in the spring," when the reappearance of green urges people back into building projects, he said. "I hope to see that somewhat, when the weather gets better. Most of the country is in a super deep freeze now, so there's no building."

Roady said laid-off workers, because this is a short-term shutdown, will continue getting insurance benefits if they choose to contribute their portion of the premium. They also can apply for unemployment benefits.

"We told people to expect six weeks," he said. "If it's four, great."

He estimated 50 to 70 loggers are working for the 10 or 12 contractors who supply logs to Stoltze. They will work another couple of weeks, he said. Their usual down time for spring breakup will start a bit earlier than normal because of the sawmill closure.

Another unrelated layoff a few miles to the south on U.S. 2 southwest of Columbia Falls sent seven workers home Jan. 15 under a "job attached" status.

Northwest Parts and Rigging founder and Chief Executive Officer Herbie Hurd said five workers in the shop and two in the parts department will be called back in to work when they are needed.

"Work coming in the door dropped to almost zero," Hurd said this week. "We do work for the construction, forestry and mining industries. Right now the only one doing anything is mining."

Northwest Parts has 25 employees at its two stores in Missoula and near Columbia Falls. Its shop employees work on all kinds of heavy equipment, including road-building and forestry equipment, but Hurd said they do relatively little work on trucks.

"We found that customers are being very cautious with spending their money for repair work right now, because they don't know how long they're going to be working," he said. "We don't know how long they're going to be feeling it."

He said the layoff decision will be reviewed on Feb. 1.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com