Tag Archive: Lumber


Lumber for plainning

The Ardew mill site has some activity on it this week .Lumber cut at its new owners Aspen Planners Ltd is being piled for planning at the site. A source says that although the Ardew milling operation was not automated they had a good planner.

Aspen planners cut lumber for their mill on Quilchena Avenue and plane it at the old Weyerhaeuser mill site which they also own and use exclusively for planning.

modernization and consolidation of operations have dramatically reduced the amount of workers employed here at local mills.

The old Ardew site remains bare of logs. ardew wood products was a family operation that employed about 60 people.

Today in History: June 4, 1975

California gives farm workers collective bargaining rights.

60 jobs gone

The people at Ardew were informed at 5 o’clock this morning  Saturday 13/13 that they were all laid off. The mill was being taken over by Aspen Planners after being acquired by them. The Ardew Mill is old tech without J bar sorter.:*

* Opinion: There will be a net job loss in that sector as Aspen Planners have two mills here before acquiring Ardew. One saw mill one planner mill .

The consolidation sees AP in control of  the Weyerhaeuser operation and the Ardew operation  , leaving one other   lumber producer here; Tolko Industries a private company that also had its start as a family business.

Other small mills include NMV and pine Ideas as specialty lumber manufacturers.

Today in history: April 15th 1923

Insulin becomes generally available for people with diabetes.

Ardew wood products, closure

Ardew wood products is a small family owned milling business. It has been operated by members of the Lief Norgaard family for two generations.  The current aNorgaard , Eric has about 80 employees including loggers and they have a relationship with Pine Ideas a value added manufacturer whom has supplied pine 1 inch lumberflogged by Ardew to customers such as Ikea.

A source that is close to the dynamics of timber supply said that their licences are up a that there was not enough effort into renewing them. He a former also said that its not a completely done event. ( The closure because of lack of timber supply.)

there has been a consolidation atmosphere here is recent years that saw milling automated and logging timber allotments bundled.

Today in history: January 29, 1979

Brenda Spenser kills two and wounds 8 in an elementary school shooting in Grover Cleveland.