Updates & Blog
Biden-Harris Administration Invests in Wood Products to Support Local Jobs and Healthy Forests
Today, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small announced that the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is investing nearly $74 million to spark innovation, create new markets for wood products and renewable wood energy from sustainably sourced wood, and increase the capacity of wood processing facilities as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
Made possible in part by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act – the largest climate investment in history — these investments fund 171 project proposals across 41 States and American Samoa, and directly support forest health and the wood products economy.
The Forest Service is awarding grants to entities across the public, private, and non-profit sectors through its Wood Innovations Grant, Community Wood Grant, and Wood Products Infrastructure Assistance Grant Programs. Grant funding will support proposals that increase demand and create new and innovative uses for sustainably sourced wood. Funded proposals include converting heating systems in schools to sustainable biomass boilers, installing cutting-edge equipment in sawmills and processing facilities to increase efficiency, supporting innovative housing using mass timber, and more.
Wood Innovations Grants:
| State | APPLICANT / TITLE | FUNDING |
| AR | University of Arkansas: A mass timber awareness and opportunities campaign supporting rural healthcare | $65,192 |
| AR | University of Arkansas: Arkansas Wood Innovations Cooperative to Advance Wood Products | $300,000 |
| GA | Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College: Timber Resource Education Experience (TREE): Designing with Mass Timber to Increase Use of Georgia-grown Southern Yellow Pine | $300,000 |
| GA | Choice OpCp, LLC, dba Pioneer Processors: Energy-Efficient Firewood Expansion | $300,000 |
| GA | Claude Howard Lumber Company: Sawmill Optimization Upgrade | $250,000 |
| GA | Equilibrium Consulting USA, Inc: Advancement of Mass Timber Braced Frames for Codified Design | $300,000 |
| GA | Macon-Bibb County: Macon: Celebrating Heritage of Place with a Mass Timber Airport Terminal | $300,000 |
| GA | Mar-Jac Poultry, Inc: Mill Expansion to Support the Management and Sustainability of Forest Resources | $300,000 |
| GA | Nature Coatings, Inc: Expanding new bio-based pigments and dispersion technology made from biochar, a high growth market opportunity | $300,000 |
| GA | Roseburg Forest Products: Improving the properties of laminated veneer lumber (LVL) made from southern yellow pine through microwave treatment | $191,809 |
| GA | Southern Legacy Wood Products: Phase Two Southern Legacy Wood Products Energy Efficiency Renovation and Expansion | $300,000 |
| GA | Three Forks Timber Processors: Sawmill dry kiln addition to grow rural economies and spur forest restoration in southern Appalachia | $239,193 |
| KY | Kentucky Hardwood Lumber Co, Inc: Sawmill Carriage Improvement Upgrade for Greater Log Utilization in Central Appalachia. | $169,976 |
| KY | Somerset Pellet Fuel: Hardwood Fire Logs in Kentucky for Improved Wood Utilization | $300,000 |
| LA | Coushatta Forest Products, LLC: Sawmill Operating Equipment Control Systems Upgrades | $179,500 |
| LA | Louisiana Tech University: Monitoring and Assessing a New Designed Mass Timber Building at Louisiana Tech | $300,000 |
| MS | Fred Netterville Lumber: Netterville Lumber Small Log Cross Tie Mill Expansion | $300,000 |
| NC | Evergreen CLT, LLC.: Manufacturing of Cross Laminated Timber to Create Innovative Affordable Housing Solutions within Mass Timber Construction | $300,000 |
| NC | Polk Sawmill: Expanding Forest Management and Hardwood Manufacturing in Western NC | $300,000 |
| NC | Swinerton Builders: Kasa Medical Collective Mass Timber Medical Office Building | $300,000 |
| NC | Verenovo Energy, Inc: Verenovo Biochar Production Facility: Adding New Value to an Old Supply Chain | $300,000 |
| SC | Clemson University: Development and Promotion of the Market for Timber in Industrial Facilities | $300,000 |
| SC | U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities: Developing an Equitable Southern Mass Timber Value Chain | $300,000 |
| TN | Clark Lumber Company, Inc: Thermally Modified Lumber Equipment Expansion | $300,000 |
| TN | Panther Creek Forestry: Firewood Processor and Post Mill Utilizing By-products from Forest Stand Improvement | $272,774 |
| TN | Unaka Forest Products, Inc: Expanding sawmill capacity at 4 sites across southern Appalachia | $300,000 |
| TN | Winell Lee Lumber Company: Upgrade and Install Thermally-Modified Wood Production | $300,000 |
| TX | Texas Urban Sawmill: Full Circle Woodland Forestry a Circular Economic Project | $300,000 |
Community Wood Grants:
| State | APPLICANT / TITLE | FUNDING |
| AL | SmartLam NA Enterprises US, LLC: SmartLam Innovative Mass Timber Manufacturing Upgrade and Expansion | $1,000,000 |
| GA | Wakefield Biochar: Wakefield Biochar Production Equipment | $1,000,000 |
| NC | High Country Lumber and Mulch, LLC: The Refurbishment and Optimization of Four Steam Powered Dry Kilns in Western N.C. | $200,722 |
| TX | Steely Lumber Co., Inc: Steely Lumber Feedstock Drying Expansion | $1,000,000 |
| VA | Baillie Lumber Company LP: Install an Optimized Edger to Achieve Higher Recovery and Employee Opportunity | $684,617 |
| VA | The Turman Group: Turman Sawmill Innovative Lumber Grader Upgrade | $500,000 |
