Park Falls Paper Mill Sale Falls Through, Liquidation Might Follow

An effort to find a buyer for a Park Falls paper mill has fallen through and the next step for Flambeau River Papers could be liquidation.

Only a few people are reporting to work there now and residents of a longtime “mill town” in northern Wisconsin are dealing with the reality that Flambeau River Papers might not exist for much longer.

The mill went into receivership earlier this year and about 180 workers were laid off in June after the company halted production. However, many were called back in July after a court approved a deal with a vendor — something some took as a hopeful sign for the mill’s future.

In late September, the mill went to auction. But offers to buy were scarce and in the end, the mill was sold to a newly formed company called Element Ventures LLC. That company was owned by William Johnson, who is the son of the Flambeau River Papers CEO Butch Johnson.

However, the sale was also dependent on a deal with LignoTech USA, a Rothschild-based arm of the Norweigan company Borregaard LignoTech, which deals in lignin, a byproduct of the paper-making process that can be used in the making of concrete and in other industrial processes.

That deal fell through this month. The company’s receiver, Madison-based attorney Rebecca DeMarb, told a court that she would restart a sales process. That could mean a sale to a company that intends to operate the mill, she told the court, but “at this point, I will also be marketing it as a liquidation,” the Price County Review reported.

DeMarb didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Dennis Wartgow, a Park Falls City Council member, said there’s an outside chance that a buyer will turn up, but he and most other residents believe liquidation is the most likely outcome. The mill has been contracting for years, he said, and layoffs have come in batches. That isn’t good for the community, he said, but it does soften the blow of having a major employer close down.

“A lot of people have moved away from town already,” Wartgow said. “They were laid off in the first few go-arounds down there and they got employment in other towns. … A lot of people found jobs around here. They don’t pay as much, of course.”

The mill has operated in the northern Wisconsin city of Park Falls since 1896 and has been the city’s major employer throughout its history. There are about 2,250 people in Park Falls. In May, Mayor Michael Bablick said about 200 people were working there.

Wartgow said the city is now readying to address issues that could follow closure. Environmental cleanup on the more than century-old site could be extensive. And the prospect of a vacant mill downtown is not a welcome one.

“If they just … strip everything of value out of it and leave the building to sit there and deteriorate, that’s right in the middle of town,” Wartgow said. “It’s going to be an eyesore.”

The mill is not Park Falls’ only manufacturing employers. Other companies there include Weather Shield, a maker of doors and windows; Saunders Wood Specialties, a maker of wood paneling; and St. Croix Rods, the maker of fishing rods.

Representatives from the United Steelworkers, which represents the mill workers, didn’t respond to requests for comment by phone and email.