Can the high-tech industry rescue rural Idaho economies? Commerce and Labor Department seeks $2 million for rural business plans

The Shadow Butte Industrial Park doesn’t look like much just yet, but in Shawn Charters’ eyes, it’s beautiful.

It’s a patch of snow-dusted sagebrush, once slated to house the airport but the plan was scrapped years ago. The county rents the grounds to cattle ranchers.

Charters, a community developer who has shepherded the Shadow Butte project for years, says it won’t be long before the barbed wire that cuts through the former pasture land is replaced with high-speed Internet lines.

Instead of cows, some 22 businesses will share the 120 acres here, and there’s a waiting list for others hoping to get in on the cheap land and the sewer, water and utility connections.

Gregory Hahn
The Idaho Statesman

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