- Details
- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Economic Development
The Intertribal Timber Council and Portland, Ore.-based nonprofit Sustainable Northwest received a five-year, $1.7 million grant to help tribal nations turn small trees, brush and low-grade logs into financeable wood products and biomass projects.
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities selected the partnership as one of five projects funded nationwide.
The grant will establish a Wood and Biomass Hub at the Intertribal Timber Council, which is also based in Portland, Ore. The hub will provide business development and financing assistance to three pilot Tribal communities before extending the model across the council’s network of more than 60 member Tribes.
The pilot communities have not yet been selected. Organizers plan to choose Tribes at three levels of readiness: one with infrastructure and leadership positioned for implementation; one requiring targeted technical support; and one needing more intensive planning and project-management assistance.
No buyers, lenders or investors have committed to the initiative yet. Sustainable Northwest is seeking a contractor to develop financing models, attract investment and build a project pipeline, a spokesperson said. The initiative aims to secure or align at least $5 million in infrastructure investment by its fifth year and will evaluate whether to establish a dedicated tribal wood-products investment fund, according to the request for proposals (RFP).
Organizers said the grant could spur projects ranging from smaller biomass systems and mobile equipment to mills, processing facilities and manufacturing infrastructure.
More than 310 Tribally owned forests cover 19.3 million acres of trust land, including 10.2 million acres of commercial forest. Tribes harvest about half their allowable annual timber volume, the organizations said.
