Big Sky Forest Products plans expansion

Mineral County's largest forest products manufacturer is set to undergo a major expansion after it was rewarded two federal grants to build a treatment plant at its St. Regis site.

Big Sky Forest Products owner Gary Suppiger has been producing quality post and rails in St. Regis since 1996. 

"The previous owner was Vern Walker and he went out of business and I bought the plant from the bankruptcy department of the Small Business Administration,” he explains squelching any rumors that Tricon Timber or Idaho Forest Group owned it. 

“It was previously the site of a small random length sawmill,” explained Willy Peck, the Mineral County Resource Officer. “Gary’s purchase continued the long traditional use of the property by the forest products industry providing year-round jobs and contributing to community stability in Mineral County.”

Suppiger lives in Sandpoint, Idaho where he owns another plant that produces the same products. He’s in the round-wood business which means they manufacture round lumber products, primarily fencing, agricultural trellis’s, nursery stakes, rounds for hops and furniture manufacturing, equestrian jump rails, etc. 

Logs are his raw product, and they come from different sources, but in Montana about 95% are from federal timber either directly from the Forest Service or from the Good Neighbor Program. 

For his plant in Idaho, federal timber takes second place to private timber for their logs. The cycle of the business is in the spring, summer and fall but they operate through the winter to build inventory to meet the spring demand. 

Today, they have 10 employees, which is light, says Liz Thompson as she takes fresh doughnuts to them from Winki’s Diner. 

“We can operate with this many for the next few months because we don’t want to have to lay anyone off during the winter,” she said. 

Thompson has been the Office Manager for almost seven years and Steve Freeman has worked there for 30 years and is the general manager. 

“We own 15 acres on this side of the highway (Montana 135) which goes up the Whispering Pines Trailor Court which won’t be affected with the new expansion,” he said.

The expansion will be a wood treating plant allowing them to treat the products with a preservative rather than shipping them to Sandpoint to have it done. This addition will allow Suppiger to bring poles from Sandpoint to be treated as well as other regional post and pole manufacturers. 

“This will be cost effective for our customers because right now I’ve got an additional $1,000 in freight in every load plus transportation time before it even goes on the market.” 

He doesn’t own a treatment plant in Idaho and uses three different services, so St. Regis will be used for the Sandpoint property when it’s feasible. 

“I’ll be able to treat on my schedule rather than a treatment plants schedule which will be better for my customers and my commitment to them.”  

Peck said, “While Gary has been diligent in upgrading and maintaining the St. Regis facility over the years, this will be his most ambitious upgrade yet. Through substantial personal investments and Forest Service Wood Innovation grants, Gary has begun ordering new equipment to retool the facility and making improvements and additions that will allow him to treat post and rails and lumber locally creating new exciting opportunities for additional jobs in Mineral County.  It has been my pleasure as the Mineral County Resource Advisor to help Gary develop grant requests and solicit local support for this huge innovative effort.”

There are actually two grants. The first one is $1 million of Forest Service funding which is for the wood treating plant itself. The second one is for $300,000 which is for a boiler and kiln because the new portion needs to be heated, and the logs need to be dried before they can be treated.

Suppiger makes it clear that this movement would not be possible without loyal backing. 

“I have a lot of trading partners in Sanders and Mineral counties who have supported me. A big partner of mine is Willy Peck who works for the county. He’s been a big help to me in coordinating this grant through the county, through the forest service and through the partners in Western Montana. He once said to during this process, ‘Gary, you may not believe this but you’re the largest forest products manufacturer left in Mineral County.’ I’m very grateful to the Forest Service for providing the funds. To Willy for coordinating this and I’ve enjoyed the support of my trading partners, my employees and my vendors. It wouldn’t be possible otherwise.”

    Big Sky Forest Products in St. Regis. (Monte Turner/Mineral Independent)