Rosboro timber company temporarily closes Springfield mill and lays off 25

Story updated to reflect that 25 people were laid off, not the 40 that was originally reported.

Rosboro Co. is temporarily closing its commodity stud lumber mill in Springfield and laying off 25 workers, the company confirmed Friday.

The company plans to eventually reopen the facility and rehire workers in about two years after changing the mill to focus on producing glue-laminated timber, instead of timber studs for home framing, said Rosboro senior vice president Brian Wells.

The two year hiatus at the mill wasn’t planned but came as a result of it becoming increasingly expensive to harvest timber in Oregon due to new regulations, Wells said.

“We didn’t plan two shut the mill down for two years,” Well said. “The reason we’re closing it for now is that we can’t afford to buy logs.

“Recently implemented regulations restricting timber harvest in Oregon have caused material harm to the competitiveness of much of our state’s wood products manufacturing segment, and 25 of our employees and their families will unfortunately suffer for it,” Wells said.

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