The governor of Washington State announced Friday a US$5 million funding package made up of tax credits and a state loan that will allow Josephine County’s last sawmill to reopen, according to SeattlePi Friday.
Speaking at a news conference at a wood products mill in White City, Gov. John Kitzhaber said the funding helps spread the economic recovery happening around urban Portland to rural parts of Oregon.
The Rough & Ready Lumber Co. mill in O’Brien was dependent on large pine logs when it closed for lack of timber supply last year, putting 88 people out of work.
Rough & Ready President Link Phillippi said the upgraded mill will be more automated, employing 67 people, and processing about the same amount of timber, but from smaller logs obtained through forest thinning and ecological restoration projects.
