Idaho Forest Group in talks to buy Athol mill

Idaho Forest Group is in negotiations to buy a 115-acre mill owned by Merritt Brothers Lumber Co.

The sale of the mill near Athol, Idaho, is expected to close in April. The plant manufactures finger-jointed lumber, a structural product that can be used in place of dimension lumber.

Idaho Forest Group operates six sawmills in Idaho and Montana and saw the plant’s niche as a complimentary fit, said Tom Schultz, Idaho Forest Group’s vice president of government affairs.

“We were looking for opportunities to add value to materials that might otherwise be chipped,” he said.

Merritt Brothers was founded in 1968 by Buck and Wayne Merritt.