>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

Boise Cascade’s announcement on Monday that it was curtailing operations for two weeks at its Elgin stud mill didn’t come as a complete surprise considering the state of the nationwide housing slump. The fact that Boise has withstood the economic downtown as well as it has — and for as long as it has — is testament to how well the company positioned itself in the months leading up to the housing slump.

Still, the curtailment is going to have an impact on the local economy. A total of 103 people out of work for two weeks will be felt especially hard by the workers and their families, which in turn will impact local retailers. That leaves the rest of us to help take up the slack by making sure we spend our dollars locally.

We’re lucky to live in an area that is fairly well diversified economically. We’ve got some sizeable private employers, a large public sector and a solid agricultural base. But remove any one of those segments, or any portion thereof, and our economy takes a hit.

Our region didn’t experience the huge housing boom and exploding values that many areas did over the course of the past few years. Similarly, we’re not experiencing the bust cycle to the extent those areas are.

But we’re bound to feel it. Boise, with more than 700 employees in Union County, is a major player in the local economy. The company and its employees help drive our economy.

There isn’t a lot we can do locally to alter the nationwide housing and lumber market. But what we can do is lend support to those Boise employees who are experiencing firsthand the downturn in the national economy. Those of us who know a family that is impacted can offer up a meal, or some other form of support. We can let Boise know that the community stands behind the company and appreciates the fact that it has weathered the storm better than many companies in the industry.

And, as a community, we can pledge that we will try to do more to support our local retail community in a time when a sizeable number of people are having to scale back.

Let’s do all we can to keep this downturn at arm’s length. That means supporting our people, our industries and local economy as much as we can.