Susanville Memories
The abandoned Sierra Pacific lumber mill in Susanville closed in 2004.
Sierra Pacific announces closure of Susanville Mill
By Shayla Ashmore
News Editor
Sierra Pacific Industries announced the permanent closure of its Susanville sawmill last week due to a serious log shortage. Sierra Pacific spokesman Ed Bond said all employees would get 60-days notice before the mill is closed and dismantled sometime during the first three months of 2004. Employees will receive the notice once an exact closure date is set.
Bond said current employees will be asked if they would like to transfer to another Sierra Pacific facility, and if so where.
"And we will attempt to accommodate those transfers," he said on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
Bond said George Emmerson, SPI's vice president of sales and operations, came to Susanville personally to announce the closure to mill crews.
"This is one of the most difficult things the company has had to do," Bond said of the meeting with employees.
"Someone might consider this as a terrible time - before the holidays - to be telling people this," Bond said. "Well, there's no good time to tell people this and we felt that if this is going to happen, we'd already made the decision that they should know so they can plan accordingly. It wouldn't be right if someone went out and a bought a new car or signed up for a new home or something with the prospect of not having a job there."
SPI officials only made the decision to close the mill on Thursday, Dec. 11 and employees were notified as soon as possible, he said.
"We wanted to minimize the heartache of speculation and uncertainty for the families and move forward," an SPI press release issued late on Monday, Dec. 15 quoted Bond.
Company officials cited the loss of Forest Service timber, unfair competition from states with fewer environmental regulations and foreign imports as the reasons behind the difficult decision. In the press release, SPI pointed out timber sales from the Lassen National Forest fell from 108 million board feet in 1990 to 17.9 million in 2002.
"That mill has been designed to cut higher grade logs," Bond said. "And even with the Healthy Forest initiative and the Quincy Library Group programs, why, the types of logs that would be coming off of those from the Forest Service would not be the higher grade logs that would be necessary for that mill."
Found this photo being used here:
and here:
www.howderfamily.com/blog/mundane-first-names/
Susanville Memories
The abandoned Sierra Pacific lumber mill in Susanville closed in 2004.
Sierra Pacific announces closure of Susanville Mill
By Shayla Ashmore
News Editor
Sierra Pacific Industries announced the permanent closure of its Susanville sawmill last week due to a serious log shortage. Sierra Pacific spokesman Ed Bond said all employees would get 60-days notice before the mill is closed and dismantled sometime during the first three months of 2004. Employees will receive the notice once an exact closure date is set.
Bond said current employees will be asked if they would like to transfer to another Sierra Pacific facility, and if so where.
"And we will attempt to accommodate those transfers," he said on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
Bond said George Emmerson, SPI's vice president of sales and operations, came to Susanville personally to announce the closure to mill crews.
"This is one of the most difficult things the company has had to do," Bond said of the meeting with employees.
"Someone might consider this as a terrible time - before the holidays - to be telling people this," Bond said. "Well, there's no good time to tell people this and we felt that if this is going to happen, we'd already made the decision that they should know so they can plan accordingly. It wouldn't be right if someone went out and a bought a new car or signed up for a new home or something with the prospect of not having a job there."
SPI officials only made the decision to close the mill on Thursday, Dec. 11 and employees were notified as soon as possible, he said.
"We wanted to minimize the heartache of speculation and uncertainty for the families and move forward," an SPI press release issued late on Monday, Dec. 15 quoted Bond.
Company officials cited the loss of Forest Service timber, unfair competition from states with fewer environmental regulations and foreign imports as the reasons behind the difficult decision. In the press release, SPI pointed out timber sales from the Lassen National Forest fell from 108 million board feet in 1990 to 17.9 million in 2002.
"That mill has been designed to cut higher grade logs," Bond said. "And even with the Healthy Forest initiative and the Quincy Library Group programs, why, the types of logs that would be coming off of those from the Forest Service would not be the higher grade logs that would be necessary for that mill."
Found this photo being used here:
and here:
www.howderfamily.com/blog/mundane-first-names/