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Projects of the Madison County Economic Development Council

Montana Black

The Madison County Economic Development Council (MCEDC) has launched Montana Black, a branded beef program for Montana ranchers. In its first phase, this program has been selling fat cattle sourced in Madison County to beef customers in Southwest and Central Montana. Its long-range plan is to source cattle statewide for sales throughout Montana, national markets, and international markets.

This program has two primary goals.

First, it will provide cow/calf ranchers with an alternative to the commodity market by paying premium prices for locally raised, natural fat cattle. These prices will profitably compensate ranchers for retaining their calves and managing them to market weight within Montana rather than selling them as young calves into the feedlots of the Midwest. The live weight prices paid are directly correlated to what the market for Montana fresh beef can bear. The Ranchers’ First pricing model, which calculates these live weight prices, is described in detail in this grant proposal.

Second, this program will offer local food businesses and household consumers the quite rare option of purchasing locally raised, natural Montana beef. Commodity beef is not Montana beef. Feedlot beef is not Montana beef even if the cattle happened to be sourced from Montana. The goal of Montana Black is to provide verifiable, high quality, locally raised and natural Montana beef to the marketplace.

Fish Out of Water Community Art Project

Madison River Marathon

The Madison River Marathon, held in conjunction with the Ennis Fly Fishing Festival over Labor Day Weekend, will be a state-wide advertised event that will bring more attention to the Madison Valley and the surrounding areas. The intent of the project is to become a revenue-generating, awareness raising event that will be an eventual catalyst for other outdoor events, hopefully turning Madison County into an ideal place to recreate in all aspects of the definition. Madison County has a vast array of recreational opportunities outside of fishing and river recreation, and we would like to capitalize on the beauty of our surrounding area with minimal or no negative environmental impact.

Part of the MCEDC’s mission is to be true to our cultural, recreational and environmental interests. A marathon that is run through the countryside not only increases awareness of the awe-inspiring beauty of Madison County, but has minimal to no negative impact on our environment. The course will be run partly through ranch land, partly along and over the Madison River, and fully with mountain views. These are all important aspects of our culture, recreation, and environment. A long road race attracts running enthusiasts from around the country, and this increased exposure and niche market tourism will only benefit our local businesses. As runners, Sam and Robin appreciate the importance of well organized running events, and good races eventually grow to be large draws. Local economies have immediate and direct positive impact from events such as marathons and half marathons. Click here for the 2008 race results!

West Yellowstone Economic Development

The potential project at hand is a cooperative agreement between the MCEDC and WYED to do a variety of projects. The bulk of the work would be a marketing study to expand the West Yellowstone Airport. Currently, the West Yellowstone airport has about 5,000 outgoing passengers per year. The objective of the project would be to find the means to get passenger flow over 10,000 outgoing passengers within three years.

The viability and profitability of the West Yellowstone Airport would fit within the mission because it is the single commercial airport servicing the region aside from Gallatin Field. We feel it is also part of our mission to expand to other areas of Southwest Montana to offer what we have and are learning about economic development.

West Yellowstone borders Madison County. The town of Ennis is closer to West Yellowstone than Bozeman, and the hospital in Ennis is used by West Yellowstone people frequently. In this sense, the town fits into our mission even though it is not technically within the county. Overall, we feel that we should not be limited by a county line to do economic development work. One of the key challenges that Madison County faces is how to get a higher percentage of tourists who travel in Yellowstone National Park to visit Madison County when they leave the Park. The best example is the fact that Virginia City hosts about 75,000 tourists per year yet more than 3,000,000 visit YNP every year. By having a presence in West Yellowstone, the MCEDC can play a more direct role on tapping into this pool of tourists.