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CAMAS — While the workforce at the Camas paper mill has declined this year due to layoffs, so too has the amount of land Georgia-Pacific owns in the city, as the company recently donated about 181 acres to Camas.

The agreement, which Camas city councils approved last week, gifts two dams, the mill ditch area and areas along the shorelines of Lacamas Creek and Washougal River to the city. The land must be used for green space and recreation, per the agreement. The total land donation was appraised at $960,000 on Aug. 15, according to Georgia-Pacific spokeswoman Kristi Ward.

“The Camas mill historically used Lacamas Lake surface water for operational purposes,” Ward said. “Over the last several years, the mill has been decreasing our water usage.”

In November, Georgia-Pacific announced it was going to shut down several operations at the Camas mill, including the communications paper machine, fine paper converting assets and pulping operations. Staggered layoffs started in May, cutting somewhere in the range of 280-300 jobs. Between 120 and 140 jobs remain at the historic mill, which opened in 1885 and in the 1980s employed around 2,400.

The mill’s declining water use combined with the recent shutdowns meant the mill had no use for the dams or other property. A staff report from the city said that mill officials said if the city wasn’t interested, they would look for another organization to take ownership, or possibly open the gates at the dam to lower the lake level and then demolish the dams. The dams help maintain the lake level at Round Lake, a recreation hot spot in Camas.