Weyerhaeuser plant in Columbia Falls marks 50 years of operation

Aiming to turn sawdust and other wood waste into usable products, Plum Creek Timber Company opened a fiberboard plant in Columbia Falls in 1974.  

The plant cost Plum Creek, which was spun off from a division of Burlington Northern Railroad, $10.5 million and was expected to utilize 108,000 tons of wood waste annually. 

The initial plant was expected to produce about 70 million square feet of fiberboard a year and would employ about 115 workers. 

“The use of spruce, pine and western conifers is expected to give the product a superior edge,” plant officials said during a July 1974 tour with Burlington Northern brass. 

Seattle-based Weyerhaeuser purchased Plum Creek in 2016 and continues to operate the plant almost as it did 50 years ago, but with plenty of technological advances. 

“We’re proud to be the longest-running MDF facility in the world and — as Weyerhaeuser’s only MDF facility — support the company’s customers across North America,” said plant manager Kyle Cram. 

In 2022, the Columbia Falls plant became the world’s longest-running MDF facility, according to Weyerhaeuser. The first MDF plant opened in Deposity, New York in 1965 and five more facilities followed including the one in Columbia Falls.  

By 2020, Weyerhaeuser, notes all the other plants had closed making Columbia Falls the oldest continuously operating MDF facility in the world.  

Production is much greater than it was five decades ago. Today the plant can produce up to 265 million square feet of three-quarter-inch MDF annually. 

MDF is a composite wood product because it’s made from byproducts like sawdust, wood shavings and wood chips as opposed to sawed logs. The plant takes the little pieces of byproduct, heats them with steam and grinds them up, Cram explained. 

The plant then dries the mixture, adds glue, and piles it into large fluffy mats that are pressed into panels. They then cut those panels to various sizes and ship them by truck and rail to customers across North America.  

“Many of our MDF products — we offer well over 1,000 different options in panel thicknesses and cut-to-size variations  —  are used in high-end interior applications like custom doors and cabinets. Also, because MDF is made from wood byproducts that might otherwise be thrown away, it’s part of a sustainable process that helps us maximize the use of every log,” Cram explained. 

The company is one of the largest employers in Flathead. It employs around 200 people at the Columbia Falls MDF facility and more than 500 people in the valley.  

“Many of them have been with Weyerhaeuser for decades, including a few who have over 40 years of service,” Cram noted. 

After all these years, the market continues to be robust.

“The market for our MDF is strong, and that’s a testament to the quality of the products we make here in Columbia Falls and the customer service we provide. Weyerhaeuser has been in this business a long time. Our customers know they can count on us to deliver the highest-quality MDF panels and always do the right thing on their behalf. Our people take great pride in this legacy and their work, and it shows. It makes me proud to be part of this facility and community,” Cram said. 

He sees a solid future ahead, too. 

“Our future is bright because we’re building on a solid foundation,” Cram said. “That starts with our sustainably managed working forests and the local forest economy. But we also know that Weyerhaeuser has invested in this community and vice versa for generations. Many of our employees grew up here with parents working in the facility and are now raising families of their own. We want to continue that legacy and continue to provide good, stable jobs that support the local economy and make this community a great place to live, work and do business for another 50 years.”