Oregon Public Broadcasting

Warrenton is a small town near the port of Astoria.

Like a lot of small Oregon communities, its employment used to be based in the timber industry.

Ethan Lindsey reports that Monday marks another sad day in the town’s recent history.

It’s the last day on the job for 59 workers at the Weyerhaeuser saw mill.

Check out our map of recent layoffs around the Northwest

Though it's not an unexpected day. Many of the workers have been furloughed, on and off, for months.

Mark Kujala is a city commissioner in Warrenton.

Mark Kujala: “We are both a fishing and a logging town, historically. So it’s been a time of change for us. We’ve had to grow into a commercial sector, where we’ve had some box stores come in and some shopping open up.”

Warrenton’s plight isn’t unique – and isn’t new.

Timothy Duy is an economist at the University of Oregon.

He says working at a sawmill in the state just isn’t what it used to be.

And so news of the Warrenton lay offs isn’t that big a ripple in the state’s economic pool.

Tim Duy: “Wood products is not the size of the economy it used to be.”

Duy points out that in this economy, it’s not just saw mills that are hurting.

That’s not good news for Warrenton. The town has tried to shift away from a reliance on fishing and logging.

But now, the huge new subdivisions planned for construction near town may be on hold themselves.