A Co-Generation facility would be constructed here, at the Pyramid Mountain Lumber mill in Seeley Lake. Photo by Tim Love of the Lolo National Forest.

The Blackfoot Clearwater Landscape Stewardship Project proposes to partially fund the construction of a 3.2 MW co-generation facility and a new high pressure boiler on 2 acres at the Pyramid Mountain Lumber site in Seeley Lake, Montana.

This facility would be designed to harness, biomass products from forest restoration and thinning projects. These products would be transported to Pyramid's mill and burned along with other excess lumber waste (hog-fuel) in the new boiler. The boiler would produce high-pressure steam that the co-generation facility would then convert into two forms of usable energy: electricity and heat. The first source of energy, electricity, would make the lumber mill energy self-sufficient in addition to creating additional power for local schools. The other source of energy, the heat, would be used to dry lumber in the mill’s kiln.

At the national level, biomass energy is part of a national trend emphasizing a more energy independent and sustainable United States. At the local level, construction of this facility would:

• Provide an outlet for excess forest fuels from private, state and Federal forestlands;
• Increase the number of local well-paying manufacturing, trucking and woods worker positions;
• Attain self-sufficiency in increased needs for power and steam for Pyramid Mountain Lumber, Inc;
• And provide a model and vision for rebuilding lost infrastructure in the West.