Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd. plans to close its Okanagan Falls sawmill before Christmas as part of the restructuring of its B.C. operations. The closure will throw 224 people out of work.
Savings from the Okanagan Falls closing will be used to modernize Weyerhaeuser's other B.C. operations. The company said it plans to spend roughly $5.5 million to upgrade its Princeton sawmill by year's end.
The closure reduces Weyerhaeuser's presence in B.C. to the Princeton sawmill and associated timber harvesting operations, a hardwood sawmill and an engineered wood plant in the Lower Mainland.
Washington-based Weyerhaeuser, which has operated in Canada since 1965, said it will work with its employees and the community to deal with the Okanagan Falls closure.