United Forest Products closing Bonner facility, 100-worker layoff

A building materials facility east of Missoula will lay off about 100 employees when it closes in September, the company announced Monday. 

UFP Edge, located in the Bonner Industrial Park, will close Sept. 27, Abby Mitch, the Michigan-based company’s senior manager of communications, told Montana Free Press. 

“This is not an easy decision,” Mitch said in a statement. “We wish this facility had worked out. Montanans’ grit and perseverance are among our core values at UFP Industries. We spent five years working together to make it work, but big-picture realities beyond our control made consolidation unavoidable. We have committed to our Bonner employees that we will prioritize internal candidates for open positions across the UFP family of companies.” 

Mitch said she “wouldn’t point to tariffs” as the reason for the closure. 

UFP Industries, which has more than 200 locations worldwide, manufactures retail building products and operates industrial packaging plants and a construction firm, according to its website. The Bonner facility, located in two buildings at the industrial park, manufactures siding, trim and interior accents. 

The Montana Department of Labor and Industry will host a rapid response event Wednesday, Aug. 6, to support employees affected by the layoff. Staff will assist with filing unemployment insurance claims, provide guidance on dislocated worker programs and retraining options, help workers connect with local employers and job search resources and answer questions about other support services, according to the department. 

The event is at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Missoula. The department encourages workers to not voluntarily resign before the layoff to stay eligible for unemployment insurance and other assistance.

The announcement follows last year’s closure of Missoula County’s two largest wood products employers, Pyramid Mountain Lumber and Roseburg Forest Products. The closures were the most recent in a long line of sawmill closures in western Montana over the last few decades.  

Seeley Lake sawmill Pyramid Mountain Lumber employed about 100 people when it announced its closure in March 2024. It ceased operations last summer and auctioned off its equipment in the fall. Roseburg’s Missoula plant closed in May 2024, affecting about 150 employees. 

A film production company plans to redevelop 47 acres of the site into a film and television production campus.