MOSCOW, Idaho – The housing slump caused by the faltering economy is making it nearly impossible for lumber mills in northern Idaho to stay in business, timber officials say.

"A lot of mills are running in the red, trying to keep people employed and trying to keep things moving," said Serena Carlson, a spokeswoman for the Coeur d'Alene-based Intermountain Forest Association, a group that promotes the timber industry.

About 40 people attended a forum Wednesday to discuss problems confronting Idaho's timber industry, the Lewiston Tribune reported.

Carlson said banks have been reluctant to make loans, limiting the money available to build new homes. About 80 percent of the lumber manufactured in the West is sold on the national market to build houses or for home improvement, she said.

Brett Bennett of Bennett Lumber Products in Princeton said the company will begin shutting down operations indefinitely in June. He said prices are so low that timber companies, which have to buy the timber, pay for it to be logged and hauled to the mill to be cut into lumber, would lose money even if they were given the logs for free.

Carlson said mills started laying off workers in October and the reductions that have continued since.

Carlson said her group wants to keep land as working forests instead of being used for vacation homes.

Earlier this year, recognizing the problems the timber industry is facing, the Idaho Land Board voted to allow an extra year for timber companies to finish logging on state-owned endowment land so that lumber prices might rise.

Federal land managers also have been granting delays on logging deadlines. Unlike state contracts, however, federal contracts usually contain provisions for delays.