Proposed plant in Darby gets boost from USDA
by ROD DANIEL- Staff Reporter
The Ravalli County Economic Development Authority received word Monday that it received $34,250 to help develop a business and marketing plan for a wood-plastic composite extrusion plant slated for Darby.
The money will come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is intended to spur rural economic development.
Corrine Gantt, project manager for the yet-to-be-built Darby plant, said she and other project leaders finished a preliminary feasibility study for the plant in November. Soon after, they met with Julie Foster, chairman of the Ravalli County Economic Development Authority, to discuss creating a comprehensive business plan and marketing study.
The plant, Gantt said, would use slash, or small-diameter timber, from fuels-reduction projects in the Bitterroot and combine it with recycled plastic to make construction-grade building materials.
Foster said she was impressed with plan and did her best to connect the project with the right funding organizations.
“Because of its potential for job creation, I felt like it was a perfect fit for the USDA rural economic development grant,” Foster said. “I think the project has huge merit, and the business plan will help answer some questions. A big one is the market.”
Gantt has already contacted some well-connected people in the industry to help with the business plan, and now that the money has come in, she's ready to move forward.
“We've got two consultants - one technical and one marketing - to help us complete the business plan,” she said. “Our focus is to keep it a small, local business.”
All or most of the wood products, Gantt believes, could come from Ravalli County, but the plastic, initially, would be purchased from a recycling company in Spokane, Wash.
“A big part of this project is to shore up recycling in Montana,” she said. “And we're working with a number of recycling companies to do this.”
The project, she said, will adhere to a business philosophy known as “triple bottom line,” meaning it will focus on being financially profitable as well as enhancing the ecological and social aspects of the community. Already, she said, a wide variety of community members have come forward with their support.
“We've got an interesting group of supporters, from Dave Bull and the Forest Service to Stewart Brandborg and Friends of the Bitterroot,” she said. “By bringing together groups of people that often don't agree, a portion of the ‘triple bottom line' approach has already been met.”
The business plan, Foster said, will, among other things, help the project leaders decide on the form the business will take as well as how it will be funded. And because it is such a worthy and important project, she said, the EDA will administer the grant at no cost.
Reporter Rod Daniel can be reached at 363-3300 or rdaniel@ravallirepublic.com
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