$750,000 in USDA projects recognized

More than $750,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development in Douglas County and Carson City was recognized in separate stops here Tuesday by a USDA official.

On hand was Patrice Kunesh, deputy undersecretary for USDA rural development, who first went to Great Basin Organics LLC five miles south of Carson City and later was at the Washoe Tribe Stewart Colony Wellness/Community Center. The visits were coordinated by Nevada’s state USDA Rural Development office in Carson City.

The first stop was to mark a $671,000 guaranteed loan for help in the Great Basin Organics firm that now produces high-grade compost using locally donated and converted waste materials. Among materials included are trimmed tree limbs from the Lake Tahoe area, donated barn residuals such as straw or manure, and left over coffee from the Douglas County’s Starbucks’ roasting facility. The loan will help boost Northern Nevada’s bioeconomy.

A later stop was made at the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California community center and involved a trio of funding sources, including economic impact initiative grants. The trio included $12,900 to move a law enforcement substation from Douglas County to the Carson Colony Washoe Tribe facility, $10,150 for furnishing it, and $28,850 for flooring and seating at the community center.

Prior to joining USDA, the deputy under secretary making the stops here had served as the deputy solicitor for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior. She’s of Standing Rock Lakota descent. Before joining the Interior Department, Kunseh was a faculty member at the University of South Dakota School of Law. She also directed the university’s Institute of American Indian Studies there.

USDA Rural Development said it operates as an equal opportunity provider and lender.