Improved demand for 12-inch-wide pine boards prompted Plum Creek Timber Co. to announce Tuesday that it will restart its Columbia Falls sawmill on Monday.

The restart will send about 140 people back to work. They were laid off when Plum Creek announced its temporary Columbia Falls shut-down on Jan. 8.

It's a cautious decision that will be re-evaluated month by month, according to Tom Ray, Plum Creek vice president for Montana Operations.

"We're seeing a little improvement in the board prices," Ray told the Daily Inter Lake Tuesday. "We're not exactly sure what segment is picking up overall."

He said the price of 12-inch pine boards has bumped up about $60 per thousand board-feet since January.

"That's the driver," he said. The $60 improvement is a typical increase for this time of year, he said, but prices started from a lower level this time.

"At this point, it is better to run the plant than to keep it down," he said. "Obviously we're happy to be bringing back our people."

A press release Tuesday credited the repair and remodeling market for the modest gain in demand for pine boards. But Ray said, with Plum Creek boards shipped to a variety of users across the nation, it's impossible to pin it directly to one segment of the market.

The broader housing market remains weak, the press release pointed out.

Monday morning's restart will bring laid-off workers back for one and a half shifts on a single production line, the same pace the sawmill had been running the previous year. The mill produces 250,000 board-feet a day.

Ray said it looks like all but two of the original sawmill workers would return. Most are long-term employees, with the average length of service about 15 years.

At the same time the Columbia Falls curtailment was announced, Pablo's pine-board sawmill also cut back from one-and-a-half to one shift.

"Pablo continues running one shift, and running quite well," Ray said.

Plum Creek also announced reductions at other plants in January, including the permanent closure of the Ksanka sawmill in Fortine. It will saw its final logs on Thursday and the planer will continue to run until March 24.

The medium density fiberboard plant in Columbia Falls remains curtailed at two shifts on each of two different production lines.

And the Evergreen sawmill, included in the January curtailments, remains closed.

"In April we'll look at potential start-up dates," Ray said. "We're hopeful as we get into spring construction that we'll see an uptick in demand. But we haven't seen that yet."

The Columbia Falls log yard has a three-month supply of logs, which should carry the plant through spring break-up, Ray said.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at [email protected]