CSKT receives Tribal Business Development Grant

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes will receive a Tribal Business Development Grant for $150,600 from the Montana Department of Commerce. The funds help finance an office and small retail space at the Tribes' meat-processing plant in Ronan.  

According to Janet Camel, planning director for CSKT’s Economic Development Office, the processing plant isn’t expected to open until January 2026.

The Tribes received a $7.7 million Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grant last June from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help finance the project. That grant will fund a 3,000-square-foot plant in Ronan designed to process up to 25 animals a week. The three-acre building site is located along Mink Lane.

Camel said last week that the construction contract for the building foundation, utilities and pen and chute system went out for bid Feb. 11.

Despite recent federal budget cuts, Camel said the Tribes have been assured by the Oweesta Corporation, a Native community development financial institution, that the federal grant is secure because the funds were transferred to Oweesta to administer last year.

The Blackfeet Tribe also received $89,400 from the Department of Commerce TBDG program to enhance meat processing and product distribution associated with their buffalo program in Browning.