No one likes change. Most of us like the comfort of the known.

But like it or not, life brings with it changes and that brings the unknown.

Monday's announcement Packaging Corporation of America has agreed to buy Boise, along with the paper mill in International Falls, brings with it change and the unknown.

Minnesota Rep. David Dill told The Journal this week only the driver of the change likes change. And Borderland must be a driver of its own change by continuing on the path forward being built in response to May's announcement the mill would cut 265 jobs.

We urge the community to share optimism this purchase will help stabilize the local paper mill and remaining jobs and perhaps even see value added to the products made here.

The response to the job cuts have brought development of teams of community members who are working to develop and search for ways to: diversify this the local economy; attract new and retain existing businesses and jobs; and establish a long-term vision and strategy for the local economy.

In just this past week, International Falls and Koochiching County officials supported an application for a $555,000 federal grant to assess and analyze the community as well as search for potential clients who can use our amenities such as the foreign trade zone, multimodal district, and area business and industrial parks.

Clearly, we must enlist our state and federal officials in an effort to ensure this new owner of our paper mill can compete with mills in other states and nations by keeping operating and supply costs as low as possible.

We encourage all our elected leaders to reach out to PCA officials to tell them we want them to continue a presence here and are willing to help them in just about any way possible.

As local people may recall, this paper mill has already experienced ownership changes, downsizes, and machine and facility shutdowns, as well as expansions.

Like we said in May, Borderland and this paper mill are survivors. This purchase isn't the end of the world, but another bump along road to economic health and stability for this area.

That said, we welcome Packaging Corporation of America to our community.