Oregon sawmills plan to reduce production
ROSEBURG, Ore. - A timber company plans to cut back production in Roseburg and shutter another facility in Glendale but said another 280 jobs in Springfield and Noti will not be cut - at least for now.
Swanson Group plans to scale back production at its Roseburg facility Sept. 1 from 60 hours per week to 20 hours per week. The Glendale facility will shutdown in 6 to 8 weeks as they run out of logs.
Chuck Wert said no cuts are anticipated for facilities in Noti or Springfield in the short term, but he did not know what the long-term outlook would be for those facilities.
The company said the ongoing recession and housing slump have caused continued poor markets. Cheap Canadian imports are further deflating markets, and the government remans unwilling to provide a reasonable or sustainable volume of timber, company officials said.
Company President Steve Swanson said the most serious threat facing the industry is that the federal government's timber sale program, especially the BLM, has gone from bad to worse.
"While the Canadian companies are given subsidized logs virtually for free, the U.S. government has completely failed to fulfill its obligations as a landowner to rural oregon communities," he said. "Unfortunately, we are seeing no positive signs in the U.S. housing market, U.S.-canada trade relations or federal timber supply which have made today's decision a harsh reality."
