Employees at Swanson Group’s sawmill in Glendale got word Friday from owners that the mill is permanently closing, but the blow was softened with the news they’d be offered jobs at other facilities within the company.

Steve Swanson, company president, said Swanson Group will absorb all 120 employees at the sawmill into its plywood and veneer operations, across town in Glendale, and at the company’s stud mill in Roseburg.

Swanson said a continuous lack of federal timber led him to make the decision this week, that will shut down the large facility visible to everyone driving into Glendale. The place was deserted Friday afternoon.

“I don’t see a long-term future for that facility because of what the federal government is not doing,” Swanson said Friday afternoon. “They’re just not managing the land.

“We were in a situation where we were out of logs.”

Swanson said his company will double its production at the Roseburg stud mill, where 40 additional jobs will open up.

It will also increase its operations at the Glendale plywood and veneer plants across town, where personnel will increase to 300. The Springfield plywood mill, which burned to the ground in 2014 and reopened in 2017, will not be affected.

The total number of employees in Glendale will drop, but he expects no net loss in the company.

For more on this story, see the weekend edition of the Daily Courier