DIXFIELD – A wet spring and summer have resulted in the layoff of 31 people at Irving Forest Products in Dixfield.

Valerie Mercer, who works in human resources at the plant, said the inability of loggers to get into the woods to supply enough white pine logs, because of the wet logging conditions, caused the layoffs. She said the jobs of the people laid off cut across many skills, ranging from lumber handling to equipment operation.

The layoffs aren’t expected to be permanent, she said. Before the action of Sept. 10, the mill employed about 250 people.

The company is expanding its lumberyards to additional sites in New York, southern Massachusetts and other parts of New England so that a sufficient supply of pine logs can be procured, she said.

Mercer is not sure when some of the laid-off employees will be called back, but it could be in two to three months.

This is the first major layoff the company has had since Irving bought the plant from the Stowell family in 1999. At that time, Mercer said a handful of people lost their jobs.

Eric McLean, 25, of Mexico, is one of the employees who was called into the office on Sept. 10 to learn that he had lost his job, at least temporarily.

He is a lumber grader who has worked for Irving for five years.

“We had no warning. We were called into the office individually and told whether we were laid off. We were extremely surprised. We knew there was a log shortage but no one had expectations of being laid off. We were told some would be coming back,” he said.

McLean, along with the other 30 men and women who lost their jobs, were referred to the Career Center in Rumford for employment counseling.

A spokeswoman at the Career Center said her agency was notified by e-mail of the company’s layoffs on Sept. 13. She said counselors at the agency will assist former employees in looking for other jobs.

McLean has signed up for a seven-week welding course at the Region 9 School of Applied Technology.

Irving has plenty of orders.

“As soon as the log supply is up, we’ll be getting back up to where we were,” said Mercer.