BOULDER - Prairie Mountain Publishing Co., the Boulder-based publisher of the Boulder Daily Camera, the Longmont Times-Call and the Loveland Reporter-Herald, will lay off 17 staff members at the Camera, mostly in the advertising design department.

The ad design jobs will be outsourced to Illinois-based Affinity Express. Two of the layoffs occurred in the production department, which will be outsourced to The Denver Post. The move comes as part of a consolidation effort by Prairie Mountain's parent company, Digital First Media.

After the layoffs, Prairie Mountain will employ 328 people, with 133 of those located in Boulder. Transitions to Affinity Express and to The Denver Post are expected to be complete within the next three months.

Advertising and editorial operations at the Camera will remain local.