Rocky Mountain Region

U.S. Forest Service
Rocky Mountain Region
740 Simms St
Golden, CO 80401
303-275-5350

TTD ⁄ TTY
303-275-5367

News Release

United States Department of Agriculture,
Forest Service

Rocky Mountain Region

Public Affairs Office

740 Simms Street
Golden, CO 80401

For Immediate Release

Contact: Janelle Smith -- 303-275-5359 (office), 720-289-7587 (cell) or janellesmith@fs.fed.us

Forest Service Partners Will Receive a Million Dollars in Matching Grants

Golden, Colo., Mar. 23, 2007 - Five Forest Service partners in the Rocky Mountain Region will receive Forest Products Lab matching grants worth more than one million dollars for biomass-related projects. "Each of these partners is paving the way for the woody biomass industry while at the same time stimulating local economies," said Rick Cables, Rocky Mountain Regional Forester. "In addition, these grant recipients are assisting the Forest Service in its efforts to reduce the risk of damaging wildfires and protect communities."

The companies that received the grants are:

• Mountain Parks Electric, Inc., in Walden, Colorado for its plan to design and implement a community-based, community scaled, woody biomass facility to service the Rural Electric Cooperative serving Grand and Jackson Counties.
• Bearlodge Forest Products, Inc., in Hulett, Wyoming to help purchase a pallet cant processing system that will make pallet lumber from low-value trees infested with insects and disease from hazardous fuels reduction treatments on the Black Hills National Forest.
• Baker Timber Products in Rapid City, South Dakota to purchase equipment that will allow them to more efficiently remove low-value woody biomass material and deliver it for ethanol production in a pilot plant in Upton, Wyoming.
• Mountain Valley Lumber in Saguache, Colorado to help purchase a Round Wood System Dowel Mill that processes raw unbarked logs directly into dowels or other round wood products. This purchase will add five new positions to the company and increase the product line for this existing company that is also the largest employer in Saguache County.
• Ranch Creek Limited in Granby, Colorado to purchase a log lathe that will enhance its diverse product line using surplus beetle-killed small diameter wood, large diameter wood and other woody biomass on National Forest Lands in Grand County, Colorado.

In addition, each of these projects brings a significant cost savings for fuel reduction efforts to the local forests. Every acre treated also helps reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire, especially in the wildland/urban interface, which is where these projects are based.

This is the third year that the Forest Products Lab has made these grants available and has awarded about $4 million in grants each of those years. The Forest Products lab is recognized as the nation's leading wood research institute and is located in Madison, Wisconsin.