The Montana Community Development Corporation has hired Craig Rawlings as its new Small Wood Enterprise Community Agent.

The position was created to help entrepreneurs develop new uses for the smaller logs that are expected to result from the United States Forest Service National Fire Plan. Prompted by the destructive fires of 2000, the Fire Plan provides funds for thinning projects that are designed to relieve overcrowded national forests.

As MCDC’s Small Wood Enterprise Agent, Mr. Rawlings will seek out ideas for new wood products, then provide entrepreneurs with technical assistance in the form of one-on-one advice or referrals. He is also charged with helping to refine his clients’ business plans and sponsoring workshops for local entrepreneurs. In addition, he will initiate financial assistance in the form of grants, conventional bank loans, or direct loans from MCDC.

Hired in October, Mr. Rawlings says he finds his new job challenging but rewarding. “I get to be the win-win guy, to help the environment and the communities, all at the same time,” he says. He has organized hundreds of his contacts into what he calls the Small Wood Utilization Network, and has connected its members via an email newsletter. “Craig has jumped right in,” comments Rosalie Sheehy Cates, MCDC Director. “He’s already providing technical assistance to ten companies – two in each of our five member counties.”

Rawlings will work with businesses and development officials in Missoula Mineral, Ravalli, Lake and Sanders Counties. He will coordinate his efforts with Forest Service officials in the Bitterroot, Lolo, and Kootenai National Forests

Mr. Rawlings has spent nearly three decades leading a variety of small businesses in Montana, including a company that manufactured wood processing equipment. He has worked with local and regional inventors and entrepreneurs to develop products, identify markets, and create distribution structures.

MCDC’s mission is to offer financing and business development services that create income opportunities for all community members in Montana. One of its early small wood success stories was a project for the Porterbilt Company of Hamilton, Montana. MCDC arranged the grant money to pay for the engineering of a unique log kiosk, and then assisted Porterbilt with market research. As a result, a kiosks was purchased and sent to the Olympic villages for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

CONTACT:

Craig Rawlings

[email protected]

MCDC http://www.mtcdc.org

110 East Broadway, 2nd Floor

Missoula, MT 59802

Phone: (406) 728-9234