BUSINESS
Wallowa County Chieftain
A6
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
IBR changes name, takes on investors
BIZZ
BUZZ
By Bill Bradshaw
Small-diameter
mill continues
same operations
W
ALLOWA —
Integrated Bio-
mass Resources
in Wallowa has changed its
name to Heartwood Biomass
LLC to mark new begin-
nings for the small-diameter
wood products facility.
But little else will change,
Heartwood CEO David
Schmidt said.
The name change was
announced Wednesday,
March 31, in a press release
that said the mill contin-
ues to benefi t from commu-
nity support as well as a new
investor base and a rejuve-
nated leadership team.
As for change in opera-
tions, Schmidt discounted
any likelihood.
“There won’t be. Not a
lot,” he said. “There will be
a little bit less stress on us
and ability to keep building
what we set out to do and be
more eff ective.”
Started in 2009, Schmidt
and wife, Jesse, came to
Wallowa after nonprofi t
Wallowa Resources fi rst
began developing a vision
in 1996 to move to a resto-
ration-based forest economy.
The business was designed
specifi cally to monetize low-
value, small-diameter timber
from forest restoration proj-
ects, the release stated. Val-
Kendrick Moholt Photography/Contributed Photo
Heartwood Biomass in Wallowa uses a highly mechanized system to turn forest biomass into valuable consumer products.
idating the need for com-
panies like IBR, the U.S.
Forest Service’s local for-
est restoration contracts
grew from just one in the
fi rst fi ve years of the busi-
ness, to eight over the next
fi ve years.
Unlike traditional mills,
the Heartwood facility can
process small-diameter trees
that increasingly dominate
Western forests. Too small to
be processed by traditional
mills and used for lum-
ber, these smaller trees are
often left standing in tightly
spaced forests, contribut-
ing to high-intensity, cata-
strophic wildfi res and insect
infestation that can destroy
entire forest stands.
Heartwood uses them to
create wood products like
bundled fi rewood for gro-
cery stores; agricultural
poles for hop, vineyard and
orchard trellising; and fence
posts for ranches.
Heartwood grew out of
a group of investors who
identifi ed an opportunity for
broad impact at the inter-
section of rural jobs, for-
est restoration and commu-
nity resilience. The company
believes the Heartwood
facility is a scalable model
that can boost forest health
and community vitality
across the Western U.S.
“We believe it’s critical
to adapt our region’s econ-
omy to focus on what our
forests and communities
need, which is restoration
and stewardship,” David
Schmidt said.
After nearly a decade of
growth, a devastating fi re
at the IBR facility in 2019
threatened to undo the com-
pany’s progress. With the
backdrop of wildfi res ram-
paging across the Western
U.S. and the growing need to
pivot rural communities’ nat-
ural-resource dependence to
land restoration, a group of
investors who had been fol-
lowing the important work
of IBR embarked on a cap-
ital-raising campaign. The
result culminated in the for-
mation of Heartwood and its
recent acquisition of nearly
all assets of the original
facility.
“I had the blessing to
have grown up in Wal-
lowa County and know how
important Heartwood’s busi-
& Skylight
Gallery
ness is in creating healthy
forests for our planet and
providing jobs and eco-
nomic growth for this com-
munity,” said investor Jeff
Nuss, founder and past pres-
ident/CEO of GreenWood
Resources. “I know I can
speak for all of the investors
when I say we are incred-
ibly excited to be able to
come alongside the manage-
ment team and continue this
important work. We believe
these types of impact invest-
ments are in critical demand
and Heartwood’s business
model has a great oppor-
tunity to expand to other
places.”
Heartwood was able to
retain all the approximately
20 employees and the man-
agement team, as well as
add important management
capacity and infrastruc-
ture. The company will con-
tinue serving the established
customer base and part-
nering with the strong sup-
plier and contractor commu-
nity that had been integral
to the growth of the original
business. Heartwood plans
to look for opportunities to
expand throughout the West-
ern U.S.
For more informa-
tion about Heartwood Bio-
mass or to seek employment
opportunities, visit heart-
woodbiomass.com.
“We’re going to be con-
tinuing to do more tim-
ber sales and lots of stuff ,”
David Schmidt said.
———
Bill Bradshaw is a
reporter for the Wallowa
County Chieftain. Have a
business tip? Contact him
at 541-398-5503 or bbrad-
shaw@wallowa.com.
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