Boise Cascade to Close Salem, Oregon, Converting Facility

Boise, Idaho, USA, 10 January 2007 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Boise Paper, a business unit of Boise Cascade, LLC, announced today that it will close its paper converting facility located in Salem, Oregon.

The converting operations will be phased out over the next nine months with permanent closure scheduled for the end of the third quarter 2007. The company plans to sell the property. The company's future converting requirements will be provided by Boise's paper mills located in Alabama, Oregon, Minnesota, and Washington. Boise's corrugated container plant will continue to operate in Salem.

"Demand and supply patterns for paper are changing and we have excess sheeting capacity," said Miles Hewitt, senior vice president and general manager, Boise Paper. "In our ongoing quest to increase efficiencies and manage costs, we began an analysis of our paper converting operations in January 2006. The physical configuration and layout of the Salem converting facility, which had originally been a paper mill, was not cost competitive, and, given the property value of that location, was not the highest and best use of the property. So we studied the feasibility of relocating the facility. However, given the changing demand for paper, we concluded that the best alternative is to close the Salem facility and consolidate our sheeting operations into other facilities."

Hewitt added, "The city of Salem was very cooperative during our review, and the Urban Lands Institute study they commissioned helped us with our decision. We support the city's desire to develop downtown Salem into a mixed use area and will work to find a new property owner that will support the city's plans."

About Boise Cascade

Boise, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, manufactures engineered wood products, plywood, lumber, and particleboard. It distributes a broad line of building materials, including wood products manufactured by the company. Boise also manufactures a wide range of specialty and premium products, including imaging papers for the office and home and papers for pressure sensitive applications, as well as printing and converting papers, containerboard and corrugated boxes, newsprint, and market pulp.

Visit Boise's Web site at www.bc.com.

Source: Boise Cascade, LLC