(NEW YORK, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Forest products company Crown Pacific Partners L.P. (NYSE:CRO - news) on Tuesday said it would close two sawmills by year-end and sell a third to rival Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (NYSE:LPX - news) after efforts to sell the company were abandoned last year. Portland, Oregon-based Crown Pacific said in a statement it would close its Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and Prineville, Oregon, mills by the end of the fourth quarter as weak demand for wood products has sent the industry through a series of contractions. About 90 employees will be affected by the Cour d'Alene mill closure and another 50 will be affected by the Prineville closure, a spokesman for Crown Pacific told Reuters. ``Louisiana-Pacific has offered to communicate any open positions at its northern Idaho operations to the Cour d'Alene employees,'' said David Doogan, a spokesman for the company. Net proceeds from the sale and closures are expected to total about $40 million, which will be used to reduce its debt, Crown Pacific said. Crown Pacific said Louisiana-Pacific will buy its Bonners Ferry, Idaho, mill and assume lease obligations valued at $18 million. Louisiana-Pacific has also agreed to supply its mills in northern Idaho with trees from Crown Pacific's 250,000-acre Idaho tree farm. No job cuts are expected as a result of the sale of the Bonners Ferry mill, Doogan said. Crown Pacific, which last year abandoned plans for an outright sale due to a downturn in the market for forest products, has been under pressure in recent months as demand has fallen and it remains mired in outstanding debt obligations and costly interest expense. Last month, the company posted its third consecutive quarterly net loss. The mill closures are part of the company's efforts to restructure and downsize its operations to preserve its timber assets. Crown Pacific is the latest company to respond to a softened wood products market through mill closures and streamlining. International Paper has closed or downsized seven paper mills in the last nine months as well as cut inventories through ``down-time'' in which production and work shifts are cut. Louisiana-Pacific on Friday said it would suspend production at a Canadian sawmill because of the 19.3 percent tariff imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce on Canadian softwood lumber. The company said in a statement it simply could not absorb the cost associated with the duty. Shares of Crown Pacific closed at $7.44 on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has fallen more than 63 percent from its 52-week high of $20.25.