Staff Writer
Communities hit hard by bad news over the winter, with the closure of Fraser Paper Inc.’s Ashland and Masardis facilities announced in January, finally got some good news with the announcement Monday that Fraser will be reopening its Masardis mill by the end of May, putting over 100 employees back to work. “We were over to Fraser Timber Monday and met with the employee committee. We advised them Fraser will be reopening the operation on the Tuesday after Memorial Day, May 26,” said Paul McKinley, general manager of Fraser’s lumber mill operations in the U.S. and Canada.
McKinley said there’s quite a bit of timber on site that needs to be used before it goes bad.
“We have quite an inventory of logs at Masardis. We knew when we shut down that we would have to process or lose them,” he said.
McKinley said uncertainties with the present economy make it difficult to determine how long the mill will be operating.
“We’re not sure how long we’ll run; it depends on lumber markets and other factors,” said McKinley. “We are looking to start purchasing new logs.”
Don Bouley, superintendent of maintenance, said staff had gotten the OK to purchase some more wood and calls were being made to get employees back to work.
“We met with employees Monday. So far it’s going pretty good,” said Bouley.
“We’ve been busy since yesterday afternoon calling employees, seeing who’s available. We’ll be running two shifts, and of course the planer mill has to run, we’ll need maintenance, boiler operators. We don’t know the total tally of employees yet, but it’s over 100 for sure,” said McKinley in a phone interview Tuesday morning.
Getting production going again at the mill is good news, according to McKinley, but the ripple effect it will have on the local economy makes for even better news.
“Things have improved in the lumber market. This is good news for the whole lumber business, loggers, truckers. But for every job at the mill, others are affected as well. This has been a tough time for Ashland and the region. This should give the economy — local businesses — a boost. We’ll see how long we can run,” said McKinley.
“There are no guarantees or promises being made. But we have some ideas and with the dedication of employees, we’ll see where it goes,” he said. “By the reaction on phone calls saying, ‘yeah, how soon can we start,’ we’ve got employees anxious to get back to work and we’re glad to be have them back.”
Ashland Town Manager Jim Gardner said it’s time for some good news.
“This is good for our businesses, but most important it’s good for the employees and their families’ peace of mind,” said Gardner.
Masardis isn’t the only site that’s received good news of late, according to Gardner.
“The finger joint line at the Ashland mill has been operating since mid April. So that’s been running a couple weeks,” said Gardner.
Spring, long recognized as a season of growth and new things, is being welcomed with gusto in the Ashland area.
“Maybe it’s spring, but it’s a nice change. We’ve seen a lot of hardship this winter. We’ll continue to fight through anything that comes our way,” said Gardner.
“It’s awesome news. We’re working with the pellet factory and that’s going well. You’ll start seeing steel go up now for the school. Spring’s looking pretty good for us,” said Gardner.
McKinley said the next few weeks will be busy as employees prepare the mill for production.
“We’re anxious to get under way. This gives us about three and a half weeks to get ready,” said McKinley.
