<p>David Schmidt, owner of Integrated Biomass Resources surveys the prospective new site for a biomass campus on property previously occupied by Wallowa Forest Products near the town of Wallowa.</p>

WALLOWA The woody biomass production industry and Wallowa County government are forming a unique business relationship to provide jobs to one of the most economically depressed areas of the county. 

British Columbia native David Schmidt and his wife Jesses company, Integrated Biomass Resources-IBR, are partnering with county government to secure property at the former Wallowa Forest Products mill site three miles north of Wallowa. Schmidt and county commissioner Mike Hayward foresee the creation of more than 30 family-wage jobs at the new site.

IBR is in the business of turning low-value forest materials into marketable products. The company currently rents property and operates inside the town of Wallowa and has created 17 family-wage jobs at what Schmidt referred to as the business incubator site, which the USDA transferred by grant to the town of Wallowa.

IBR salvages materials left over after logging operations to run through a production line turning what was once considered waste material into value-added products. The materials run through the line are sorted according to marketable usage.

The production line will begin with the merchandising of short logs to sell to sawmills. Timber that is not suitable for short logs will be produced as post and pole products mostly used for fencing. Next down the production line will be wood used for heating fuel. According to Schmidt, IBR currently bundles firewood for sale to retail outlets and has thus far drawn contracts with five grocery store chains, including 400 stores in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California and Utah. The company is now shipping 2,500 bundles of firewood, equivalent to 15 cords daily. All remaining woody materials are run through a chipper and turned into either pressed heating logs or loose hog fuel for use in biomass boiler heating systems such as the one operated by the Enterprise School.

Anything that doesnt meet specs will become material for the on-site co-gen heat and electric plant, Schmidt said.

Schmidt spoke of the importance the biomass utilization model provides to Forest Service timber sales and other landowners. Were greatly increasing utilization of forest material. Utilization is a big thing and benefits the Forest Service and other landowners in the management of the forest and also benefits private logging operations by increasing the sale of forest materials. Were finding a use for material that used to just be put into slash piles and burned, Schmidt said.

Schmidt has operated IBR for the past two years and recently bought the post and pole production business Community Smallwood Solutions from the Portland-based company Upstream 21. 

I had a vision that it was going to take multiple product lines to most effectively utilize biomass, and that having all of those product lines operating separately was too inefficient. Now having them integrated on one site, that is the future of the biomass business, Schmidt said.

To that end, IBR has recently partnered with Henderson Logging, which Schmidt says has the equipment and knowledge to enhance IBRs ability to obtain woody biomass materials. Both companies have made substantial financial investments in the project. When IBR bought Community Smallwood they also obtained a $250,000 USFS biomass utilization grant that was held by former company owner Upstream 21. The grant and investment dollars have been used to purchase mill equipment, most of which came from the old Idaho Timber site in North Powder. The equipment purchase filled about 25 semi-truck loads, Schmidt said. Schmidt hopes to begin erecting the equipment on the new site this summer.

Wallowa Resources for-profit subsidiary Community Solutions Inc. has invested in the project, planning to build a small combined heat- and power-generating plant on the site. The plant would burn biomass materials to create electricity to power IBRs operations and to heat shipments of firewood to meet the pest-free certification required for interstate shipment.

The county has stepped in to help IBR acquire the former Wallowa Forest Products mill site. The county is negotiating with the D.R. Johnson estate to purchase the property.

Weve reached an agreement in principle and negotiations are continuing, Hayward said concerning the countys plan to purchase the property.

The Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality has completed an environmental assessment and held a meeting with county officials on Thursday, July 14. DEQ did an environmental study to look for any problems with hazardous materials and they didnt find any environment problems. The property looks really good, Hayward said.

Hayward said the county proposes to purchase the property and work with IBR on a lease-to-own arrangement. Accountant and county auditor Jeff Edison advised that funding for the initial property purchase could come through an inter-fund loan from the countys asphalt operation to the countys General Fund. The money would then be paid back to the asphalt operation fund through the lease-to-own agreement at a higher interest rate than is currently being earned with the money sitting in a bank account, according to Hayward. The county awaits a land appraisal before moving forward with the purchase negotiations.

The county is desperately in need of family-wage jobs. And, the Wallowa area has been especially hard hit by the economy. With this operation up and running, there could probably be more than 30 jobs created. If county government can facilitate job creation, thats definitely a good thing, Hayward said.