United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-01-044
June 2001
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Missoula, MT
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other
stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and
sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and
an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected
by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states,
tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods
to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
BACKGROUND
EPA selected the City of Missoula for a Brownfields
Pilot. Like many other communities throughout the
northwest, Missoula's economy historically relied on
the timber and mining industries. During the 1950s
and 1960s, Missoula enjoyed great economic success.
Within the last 20 years, however, the decline of the
timber industry has resulted in massive j ob dislocation
and abandonment of the city's timber processing
facilities. Missoula's economy remains weak by
national standards, and the city's poverty and
unemployment rates are consistently higher than the
national average.
The largest city (population 51,200) in Montana's
Rocky Mountains, Missoula is entirely surroundedby
mountainous terrain. The city's lack of available flat
land has further impeded urban growth. The city's
population increased nearly 20 percent from 1990 to
1996, and demands for land continue to increase. By
focusing on its brownfields, Missoula hopes to return
idle properties to productive use and promote economic
recovery for the city. The Pilot plans to develop and
implement strategies that will lead to the cleanup and
redevelopment of a large, abandoned mill site [the
Missoula Sawmill (formerly Champion Mill)] and a
neighborhood area adjacent to another abandoned
mill. Both sites together total more than 100 acres.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Award: September 1998
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets two large
sites in a city where available space for
newandexpandingindustryisseverely
limited.
Missoula, Montana
Contacts:
Missoula Office of
Planning and Grants
(406)523-4935
U.S. EPA-Region!
(303)312-6803
Visit the EPA Region 8 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region08/cross/brown/brownf.html
Forfurther information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brown fields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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The neighborhood area, which is adjacent to the state
Superfund White Pine Sash site, is on the north side
of town. The Missoula Sawmill site is located along
the south shore of the Clark Fork River. The threat
of real and perceived contamination at these sites has
affected adjacent neighborhoods, resulting in rapid
residential turnover rates and low levels of property
investment.
OBJECTIVES
To fosterredevelopment, Missoula will buildon existing
growth management strategies, economic
development plans, and other community-wide policies
and initiatives. The processes used to return the two
targeted sites to productive use will serve as models
for the redevelopment of other city brownfields. The
Pilot activities will address both the real andperceived
environmental issues associated with each of the
targeted sites through assessment and outreach. The
Pilot will also help reduce any environmental heath
threats posed by the two targeted brownfields.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Completed the major portions of Phase I and Phase
II site assessment activities for the residential area
adjoining the White Pine Sash site, and completed a
final Phase II report; and
• Completed the major portions of Phase I and Phase
II site assessment activities for the Missoula Sawmill
site, and is preparing a draft Phase II report.
The Pilot is:
• Working incoordination with the neighborhoods and
the city planning department to develop a master
plan that will include mixed-use redevelopment of
commercial and park areas for the Missoula Sawmill
site;
• Working with the owners of the White Pine Sash
site to develop an on-site redevelopment plan that
will meet neighborhood objectives that are already
established for the Northside/Westside
Neighborhood Plan;
• Using meetings, newsletters, and outreach materials
to improve the effectiveness of the Stakeholder
Working Group, which is working to develop public
and private brownfields cleanup partnerships in the
Pilot area; and
Continuing community participation to ensure that
low-income residents living adjacent to the two
brownfields are fully informed and actively
participating in the decision-making process for the
targeted sites.
Using meetings, newsletters, and outreach materials
to improve the effectiveness of the Stakeholder
Working Group, which is working to develop public
and private brownfields cleanup partnerships in the
Pilot area; and
Continuing community participation to ensure that
low-income residents living adjacent to the two
brownfields are fully informed and actively
participating in the decision-making process for the
targeted sites.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
June 2001
Missoula, Montana
EPA 500-F-01-044
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