No decision on Cedar Palace fate

Six months after it announced its merger with Plum Creek, Weyerhaeuser has yet to make a final determination on how many employees will be retained in its administrative offices in Columbia Falls, known locally as the Cedar Palace.

Tom Ray, Montana Resources team leader for Weyerhaeuser, said decisions on the future of the palace and its employees will be made in the next couple of months.

He said the internal discussions are based on which management and support systems Weyerhaeuser will ultimately adopt.

“We have different systems,” he said. “We’re still working through that.”

About 100 people work at the Cedar Palace in secretarial, accounting, information technology and other administrative jobs. Privately, some employees have said they are likely out of a job in a couple of years unless they move to Weyerhaeuser’s Seattle offices.

There have also been rumors the company plans to sell the Cedar Palace. Ray said he’s heard similar rumors, but could not speak them at this point.

“It’s tough working through these things,” he said. “The employees are family and friends.”

When an announcement is made, employees will learn first, he noted.

Weyerhaeuser has said publicly that it intends on operating its mills in Columbia Falls and Kalispell. They employ about 650 people. 

Like Plum Creek, Weyerhaeuser also has a charitable foundation and plans on supporting local projects, Ray said. He said it recently gave a grant to a local nonprofit. The Plum Creek Foundation over the years gave hundreds of thousands to local projects.

In addition, Weyerhaeuser has kept good on its promise to keep its lands open to public use in Montana. It recently renewed its annual participation in Montana’s block management program.

“There are no plans to change the current access policy,” Ray noted.