MONTROSE, Colo.—Intermountain Resources LLC has suspended operations at its lumber mill in Montrose while it tries to raise capital.
Intermountain Resources public policy analyst Nancy Fishering said Wednesday the company is restructuring. She told The Montrose Daily Press that the company, which has about 100 employees, doesn’t plan to close permanently.
Pat Donovan of Denver-based Cordes & Co. said the Montrose County District Court appointed his company the receiver to protect Intermountain’s assets. The mill shut down operations after May 1, Donovan said.
In November, the company received $500,000 in federal stimulus money allocated to the Colorado State Forest Service for forest restoration and fuel mitigation projects. At the time, the company said it would create 11 jobs and rehire six former employees.
Donovan said mill workers from the date of receivership will be paid in full. At least one contractor is still waiting for payment.
Logging trucker Jim Noland, who has contracted with the mill since 1997, told the Montrose newspaper on Tuesday that the mill hasn’t paid him for work done in March and April.
The Montrose Economic Development Corp. says Intermountain Resources pumps more than $20 million a year into the local economy through salaries to employees, purchases from suppliers and contracts with truckers and others.
Montrose Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Sandy Head told The Daily Sentinel that Intermountain Resources is one of Montrose’s largest employers, with some employees earning salaries ranging from $65,000 to $100,000 a year. It paid about $10 million to independent contractors last year.
Demand for timber around the country has fallen along with new construction in the past couple of years. Western Colorado’s two remaining sawmills are Delta Timber Co. in Delta and Doug Jones Sawmill in Grand Junction.
