Aspen Planers has temporarily shut down its Merritt operations, citing a lack of steady log supply, putting about 150 employees in the Nicola Valley city out of work.

While the closure is expected to for last three weeks, company executives say the mill’s reopening date will be subject to government approval over cutting permits and market conditions.

“The issue, in terms of the reason behind the three week closure, is just simply because we have a lack of logs,” said Bruce Rose, executive vice president with Aspen Planer’s parent company, AP Group, said.

“Our log inventory has gone down to such a low level that it’s difficult to run our sawmill economically, efficiently, and effectively. We’ve got into a situation where we’ve run out of logs because we have not had any cutting permits approved by the government, and we have a large backlog of cutting permits that are not approved.”

In addition to workers at the mill, several contractors and logging truck drivers are out of work as a result of the mill closure.

“The employees are obviously deeply disappointed and frustrated with this situation,” added Rose.

“We can’t get on the timber harvesting land base, therefore we can’t operate and therefore can’t provide jobs. It has a direct and immediate effect on the community, and people’s livelihoods.”

While a small number of workers accepted an offer to relocate to Aspen Planers other nearby operations, a majority remain laid off ahead of the holiday season, relying on EI and other benefits to get by.

They’re expected to be back at work when fibre supply, market conditions, and cutting permits allow, something Rose hopes will be early in the New Year.