Struggling Timber Industry Puts Rural Idaho At Crossroads
David Bartlett stopped frequently to chat with friends as he made inquiries with employers at a recent Idaho Department of Labor job fair in Orofino. The nonchalance of the former Tri-Pro Forest Products employee and father of five children disguised very real stress. “My last paycheck is coming up,” said Bartlett, of Kooskia. “After that, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I hope I find something.”
Without something, Bartlett’s family will be forced to make ends meet with the part-time paycheck his wife earns at Kamiah’s senior center. Bartlett isn’t alone. Close to 60 people lost their jobs when Tri-Pro shuttered its mill near Orofino in October as it struggled to find enough logs to feed the mill.
An unknown number of them have already landed other positions. Some of those who haven’t are exploring their options. They join others looking for a career to replace whatever haphazard income they have been cobbling together in a county battered by a declining timber industry. The two groups are large enough that the midweek job fair drew a crowd at a time when the economy is strong enough that many employers are struggling to find quality applicants.
Success for Bartlett could mean a lengthy commute. Clearwater County has the highest unemployment rate in Idaho, even though neighboring Nez Perce County has one of the stronger manufacturing bases in the nation. Overall, north central Idaho’s unemployment rate was 3.8 percent in September. Increasingly, however, the jobs are concentrated in Lewiston at large employers such as Vista Outdoor, Clearwater Paper and Howell Munitions and Technology.
Clearwater County’s unemployment rate was 7.4 percent in September, the most recent month for which numbers are available. That figure doesn’t fully describe how tough Clearwater County’s job market is. It doesn’t account for the jobs lost at Tri-Pro, which continued a trend that started in 2000 when Potlatch closed its Pierce plywood mill.
From The Washington Times: washingtontimes.com.
Latest News
Explosions Trigger Safety Review Of B.C.’s Sawmills
WorkSafeBC has ordered sawmills across the province to immediately investigate sawdust levels and other possible workplace hazards in their facilities, saying the review is urgently needed given explosions at two northern mills in just under…
GE Capital Closes On Loan For 84 Lumber Company
GE Capital Corporate Finance recently announced it is co-collateral agent and documentation agent for a $225 million asset-based loan for 84 Lumber Company, one of the nation’s leading privately-held building materials and services suppliers to…
Log, Lumber Prices Put Squeeze On Western Sawmills
Results of a multi‐client benchmarking study show that in spite of operational improvements, dimension lumber mills in the U.S. West have struggled to overcome the narrowing gap between log prices and lumber selling values. The…
Canfor Completes Tembec Transaction
Canfor has completed the acquisition of the Tembec Industries Ltd.’s southern British Columbia interior wood products assets consisting of the Elko and Canal Flats sawmills and approximately 1.1 million m3 of combined Crown, private land…
Find Us On Social
Newsletter
The monthly Timber Processing Industry Newsletter reaches over 4,000 mill owners and supervisors.
Subscribe/Renew
Timber Processing is delivered 10 times per year to subscribers who represent sawmill ownership, management and supervisory personnel and corporate executives. Subscriptions are FREE to qualified individuals.
Advertise
Complete the online form so we can direct you to the appropriate Sales Representative.