Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today congratulated Confluence Energy and West Range Reclamation on each winning a 10-year U.S. Forest Service stewardship contract. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today that the two companies would be awarded contracts totaling $13.4 million to improve the health of 20,000 acres of national forest.
The stewardship contracts are focused on improving the health of subalpine and mountain forests affected by mountain pine beetle on portions of the Medicine Bow-Routt and the White River national forests in southern Wyoming and northern Colorado.
The Medicine Bow-Routt Long Term Stewardship Contract was awarded to Confluence Energy of Kremmling, Colorado for $4.75 million over ten years. Confluence Energy will remove beetle-killed trees and pile or scatter the residual debris that has no commercial value. In areas where the trees have commercial value for wood products such as dimension lumber, wood pellets and other biomass products, Confluence Energy will pay for that material to offset the cost to the government of the other forest health treatments in the contract area.
“We are pleased to add Confluence Energy to the diverse mix of forest product partners who will continue to help in our forest restoration efforts,” said Medicine Bow-Routt Forest Supervisor Phil Cruz.
West Range Reclamation of Hotchkiss, Colorado submitted a winning bid of $8.66 million for the White River Long Term Stewardship Contract. The contract focuses on the removal of tree species susceptible to insect and disease infestations, including lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, Douglas-fir, Engelmann spruce, aspen, and ponderosa pine. West Range has partnered with Eagle Valley Clean Energy to develop an environmentally-sound use for the dead and small diameter trees (woody biomass) that will be removed during fuels reduction and forest health treatments.
Bennet, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, fought for the reauthorization of stewardship contracting in the committee’s initial draft of the 2012 Farm Bill. Stewardship contracting authority is a critical tool for the Forest Service to implement projects that restore and maintain healthy forest ecosystems, and provide business opportunities and local employment. Colorado is currently among the states with the most stewardship contracts underway.
The 2012 Farm Bill garnered broad, bipartisan support when the Senate passed it in June. The House Agriculture Committee passed its own version with bipartisan support. However, neither version has yet to be considered by the full House.