Weyerhaeuser Co.’s Forest Learning Center near Mount St. Helens will only open on Fridays and weekends this season as the company tries to cut expenses, the company announced Monday.

The center will be open from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday from May 16 to Sept. 7. In years past, the center was open seven days a week from late spring to late summer.

“It’s another move to cut costs,” said Weyerhaeuser spokesman Anthony Chavez. He didn’t have the savings from closure available.

The 14-year-old Forest Learning Center attracts about 200,000 people per year to free exhibits about the volcano’s 1980 Mount St. Helens blast and recovery efforts within area forests.

In addition to the Friday-Sunday openings, the center also will be open on Monday, May 18, the anniversary of the volcano blast; Monday, May 25 (Memorial Day); and Monday, Sept. 7 (Labor Day), according to Weyerhaeuser. The center also will be open on July 4, a Saturday.

The center, located on Elk Rock overlooking the Toutle River’s north fork, is a partnership between Weyerhaeuser, the Washington State Department of Transportation and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

Weyerhaeuser’s move will leave three volcano visitor centers open full time along Spirit Lake Memorial Highway: the Johnston Ridge Observatory, operated by the U.S. Forest Service; the Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center, operated by Cowlitz County; and the state-operator volcano visitor center at Seaquest State Park.

The Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center, which operated year-round, was shuttered by the U.S. Forest Service in November 2007.

Chavez said Weyerhaeuser will evaluate whether to open the Forest Learning Center full-time in 2010. Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the volcano’s 1980 blast that killed 57 people, flattened a 230-square mile expanse of forest and sent a cloud of ash around the earth.

Three temporary workers will not be hired back as a result of the cutback, Chavez said. The Forest Learning Center will have one employee, director Terri Fittro, and volunteers, he said.

“We are pleased to be able to keep the Forest Learning Center open during these difficult economic times,” Fittro said in a written statement.

The gift shop, restrooms and outdoor facilities surrounding the forest center will remain open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.