Hurst announces mill closing

The Owens & Hurst Lumber Co. mill in Eureka will be shutting down permanently this spring.

³For our company, the hill has become too steep to climb and the path continues to be littered with obstacles,² said company head Jim Hurst. ³Pure and simple, the anemic Forest Service timber sale program is the overriding factor in our decision to close.²

Employees were notified of the impending closure during a meeting last Wednesday afternoon. The 90 employees will be offered a severance package, and the company will work with state and federal agencies to maximize benefits and retraining opportunities for them, Hurst said. A scholarship fund will be established for children of current employees.

Hurst expressed thanks to ³all of our supporters, locally, statewide and throughout rural America.²

³Your efforts extended our way of life and gave us comfort, and your encouragement buoyed the hopes and dreams of all of us,² he said. ³For that we will be eternally grateful.²

The sawmill will shut down in about four months and will be auctioned off in the summer or fall, Hurst said. The long lumber planer and value-added facility will operate until the rough lumber inventory is surfaced.

³We¹re still all a little bit in shock and haven¹t adjusted, but we¹ll survive,² said Lincoln County Commissioner Marianne Roose.

Roose said the community needs to work together and be optimistic about potential new developments.

³Maybe there are opportunities out there that we¹re not even aware of,² she said. ³When one door closes, another opens.²

She said she¹s worried, however, about the ramifications of the mill¹s closure at a time when many other similar facilities in the region have already closed.

³My concern is once that infrastructure goes down, you won¹t get it back,² she said. ³And with us living in the middle of such a large national forest, it¹s a shame.²

U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns and Rep. Denny Rehberg were both quick to pledge their support to the community in the face of the impending mill closure.

Burns offered his assistance in finding federal assistance for the workers who are facing unemployment.

³It¹s always difficult to find words in a situation like this,² Burns said. ³Bottom line is, I¹m very disappointed to see this turn of events. Jim is a good man, and has run his operation to the best of his ability, and has made a business decision that he feels is the proper one. Now, as always, I will do what I can from the federal end to provide whatever assistance is possible for his employees facing layoffs in May.²

Rehberg also promised to help workers and their families, and his office has already contacted the Economic Development Administration on behalf of the families affected by the closure.

³It¹s hard not to be angry at the circumstances that created this,² Rehberg said. ³The failed policies of overregulation and environmental extremism lead to the systematic destruction of our environment and our economy in Montana. We have more and more unhealthy forests, and fewer and fewer responsible land managers — like Owens & Hurst — to take care of them. This really points to the continual need to understand the direct relationship between maintaining a healthy forest through active management, and maintaining the economic health of timber-dependent communities.²