MARYSVILLE — Welco Lumber Co. closed its Marysville mill this week, laying off 57 employees and opening the possibility that the city’s last mill may not run again.
The lumber company informed employees Monday morning that it would “indefinitely and immediately” stop production of cedar fencing at its mill on First Street in south Marysville. Welco said all 57 hourly workers affected are being given a 60-day severance package.
At this point, Welco has no plans to dismantle or sell the mill.
“We’re not calling it a permanent closure at this stage,” said Welco spokesman Peter Stroble. “We’re calling it indefinite.”
But he didn’t sound an optimistic note about the mill’s chances for reopening.
Welco blamed market conditions and “other strategic considerations” for the closure. It plans to continue making cedar fence products at its mills in Shelton and Naples, Idaho.
In recent years, Welco had closed the Marysville mill’s production of dimensional lumber, used primarily in home construction.
Other mills across the Northwest have announced either temporary or indefinite closures in recent months. The national slowdown in home sales and construction has hit hard.
“That is the main issue. Housing starts are down 25 percent from a year ago, and 75 percent of the lumber produced is used for new home construction or remodeling and renovation work,” said Robert “Butch” Bernhardt Jr., spokesman for the Western Wood Products Association.
Welco’s mill is the second to close in Marysville in less than two years.
After buying the former Crown Pacific mill on the east side of Highway 529, Canada-based International Forest Products shut it down in December 2005. The city has since bought that site and torn down the closed mill.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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