The news last week that Prairie Wood Products had halted operations and laid off most of its employees came as a shock. When parent company D.R. Johnson reopened the sawmill after a 15-year shutdown in July 2022, it was an immense boon to the community of Prairie City, where the mill’s solid blue-collar jobs had been sorely missed.

The company is blaming the Forest Service for the latest shutdown, saying the agency abruptly changed course on the way it interprets a grant that was supposed to cover transportation costs for Prairie Wood timber sales on the Malheur National Forest. The Forest Service, so far, has said very little in response. 

The two sides reportedly are in talks to try and resolve the dispute. If that doesn’t happen, Prairie Wood Products officials say, it could imperil plans to restart the mill’s long-dormant cogeneration plant or could even lead to a permanent shutdown of the mill itself. That would be a heavy blow to Prairie City. We hope the two sides will be able to work out an agreement that serves everyone’s interests.

In the meantime, the Eagle is pursuing more details about the situation, which you’ll be able to read about in this week’s edition. Our preliminary story is available to read on our website now.

Also coming up in this week’s edition, look for stories on Prairie City Schools Superintendent Casey Hallgarth’s plan to take a new job in Baker City, a reading competition involving Humbolt Elementary School students and more.

In case you missed it, last week’s paper featured stories on a licensing foul-up at Blue Mountain Hospital, a $1.3 million settlement in the Tyler Smith lawsuit, a roundtable discussion with the governor and the crowning of this year’s Grant County Fair and Rodeo Court.

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— Bennett Hall, Editor