Old plywood plant coming down

Cranes and bulldozers can be seen hard at work near several Weyerhaeuser facilities as demolition of the structures continues in Columbia Falls.

The company is taking down the former plywood plant and its warehouses.

Production of plywood at the plant ended in August of 2016. Weyerhaeuser sold the sawmill, which is located behind the plywood plant, to an investment group earlier this year. Cross laminated timber manufacturer SmartLam will take up some that space in a long-term lease.

Weyerhaeuser announced it was shutting down both mills shortly after it merged with Plum Creek in early 2016.

About 230 worked at the mills — all but about 70 were offered jobs at its Evergreen plant.

The company continues to employ about 200 workers at its medium density fiberboard plant in Columbia Falls.

The demolition project, which began in October, is expected to be completed by middle to late spring 2018, according to Weyerhaeuser’s Montana Resources Team Leader Tom Ray.

“This is a project we are doing to free up some space at our facility,” he said. “We are not sure of the exact date of completion, but it should be done sometime this spring.”

The three interconnected buildings that are being demolished will clear up room to store more raw materials for the current chipping operation going on at the site. Weyerhaeuser will continue to operate a small office at the location as well.

According to Ray, some materials from the demolition will be recycled while others will be disposed of in landfills.