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BIO-WEST |
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January 21, 2010 This is Fred Ball for Zions Bank, speaking on business. In 1976, four former Utah State University grad students each put in $250 and started a company they called BIO-WEST in Logan. All but one parted ways by 1978. How did that $250 investment turn out? Well, today the company has 59 employees working on projects all over the West. Headquartered in Logan, BIO-WEST has offices in Salt Lake City and Austin and Houston, Texas. It has gained a reputation as a trusted and dependable context-sensitive environmental consulting organization. The company has completed more than 1,200 environmental consulting projects over the years. I asked what the subjects of the projects were, and Blaise Chanson, one of the company partners, told me the list is long and varied. It includes substantial work in watershed hydrology, fisheries, wildlife, wetlands, vegetation, habitat restoration, coastal and marine ecosystems, land use and resource management planning, transportation, ground water, hazardous waste remediation, and many other topics. BIO-WEST also does a great deal of work preparing National Environmental Policy Act analyses and documentation for federal clients and those seeking federal permits. Services to the federal government account for about 60 percent of the company's business. Even in the current economic recession, BIO-WEST continues to grow. The stimulus program initiated to assist the ailing economy is funding some of BIO-WEST's projects. Currently, the company is contracting with the Corps of Engineers to inventory the biologic components of seven reservoirs on the Missouri River and wetlands on the lower Colorado River. I learned that BIO-WEST has a mutually beneficial relationship with Utah State University. Not only was it the catalyst that brought the founders together but the company uses many of the university's research facilities and employs its graduates. I wonder if those four founders had any idea what great success the company, BIO-WEST, would enjoy 33 years after they invested that princely sum of $250? For Zions Bank, I'm Fred Ball. I'm speaking on business. BIO-WEST |
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