USDA Forest Service Awards Wood Innovation Grants to Expand and Accelerate Wood Products Markets in 20 States

MAY 16, 2018 AT 4:00 PM EDT - Today USDA Forest Service Interim Chief Vicki Christiansen announced the award of almost $8 million to expand and accelerate wood products and wood energy markets. The Wood Innovation Grants will stimulate the removal of hazardous fuels from national forests and other forest lands to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, promote forest health, and reduce the cost of forest management.

The investment of federal funds will leverage over $13 million in matching funds from 33 business, university, nonprofit, and tribal partners in 20 states for a total investment of over $21 million.

“These Wood Innovation grants advance state-of-the-art solutions to reducing wildfire risk and making our forests healthier and more resilient,” said Forest Service Interim Chief Christiansen. “The public-private partnerships leveraged with these grants also foster increased economic development in rural communities.”

Previous grants supported successful blast testing of cross-laminated timber (CLT) that directly resulted in the Department of Defense using CLT on its on-base hotels; and the funding of a feasibility analysis for a new CLT manufacturing facility to increase the amount of U.S.-made CLT.

This year the Forest Service received 119 proposals, demonstrating the expanding interest in using wood in both traditional and unconventional ways, such as an innovative building material and as a renewable energy source. Since 2005 more than 260 grants have been awarded to improve forest health, create jobs, invest in renewable energy, and support healthy communities.

Of the 34 projects funded in 2018, 28 focus upon expanding markets for wood products, and six seek to increase markets for wood energy. Some examples include utilizing small-diameter woody material in cross laminated timber (CLT) panels, addressing affordable housing in the northeast building market with mass timber, converting woody debris to renewable natural gas for transportation fuel, and using juniper biomass and biochar to filter heavy metals and manage storm water.

Since 2013 this funding has helped establish 22 Statewide Wood Energy Teams and eight Statewide Wood Utilization Teams that collectively expand and support wood energy and wood products markets. This year, two more Statewide Wood Utilization Teams will be established in Hawaii and Virginia. These multiagency teams include federal, state, business, nonprofit, and other partners.

Recipients of the 2018 Wood Innovation grants are from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. More information on the grant and cooperative agreement program is available online at the Forest Service Wood Education and Resource Center.

The mission of the U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world. Public lands the Forest Service manages contribute more than $13 billion to the economy each year through visitor spending alone. Those same lands provide 30 percent of the nation’s surface drinking water to cities and rural communities and approximately 66 million Americans rely on drinking water that originated from the National Forest System. The agency also has either a direct or indirect role in stewardship of about 900 million forested acres within the U.S., of which over 130 million acres are urban forests where most Americans live.

2018 Wood Innovations Grant Recipients

Project Title	Organization	State
Craig High School Wood Heating Conversion	Craig City School District	AK
Demonstration of Juniper Chip Wattles Blended with Biochar for Heavy Metal Filtration and Stormwater Management in Open Pit Mining and Quarrying Operations	Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management	AZ
Biomass Heating Projects at Minimum Security Conservation Camps in California	California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection	CA
Feller-Buncher Equipment Lease to Facilitate Removal of High Wildfire Risk Fuels	H.L. Power Company, LP	CA
Building California’s Biochar Market to Foster and Grow Bioenergy	Phoenix Energy	CA
Rio Bravo Rocklin Biomass Power Plant, High Fire Hazard Fuel Handling Project	Rio Bravo Rocklin	CA
Seismic Design Provisions and Commentary for Post-Tensioned Mass Timber Walls	Colorado School of Mines	CO
Kick Starting the Timber Age in Southwestern Colorado	Timber Age Homes, Inc.	CO
Northern Forests to Timber Cities: Linking Urban Construction Demand to Northern Forest Mass Timber and Harvested Wood Products	Gray Organschi Architecture	CT
Kingman Island Ranger Station	Hickok Cole Architects	DC
Hawaii Wood Utilization Team: Developing Markets for Hazardous Fuel Wood	Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources	HI
An Engineering Demonstration for a Mass Timber Affordable Housing Prototype for Large-scale Urban Deployment	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	MA
Construction Cost and Time Estimating Tool Development and Industry Outreach for Cross-laminated Timber Buildings	Michigan State University	MI
Thermal Modification of Blue-Stained Lodgepole and Ponderosa Pine	University of Michigan	MI
Northern Cheyenne Wood Energy Project Development and Forest Health Improvement	Northern Cheyenne Tribe	MT
Utilization of Small Diameter Timber to Manufacture Engineered Wood Products for Use in Commercial and Residential Building Construction	Wooden Haus Supply LLC	MT
Proving Cross Laminated Timber Panels for Residential Homes	North Carolina State University	NC
Deploying Altree™ and Althin™ Technology at Camp Navajo Utilizing Biomass to Manufacture Life Saving Materials	PJ Woodlands, LLC	NM
Overbuilds with Mass Timber - Building Preservation, Restoration and Growth	Acme Timber LLC	NY
Affordable Housing Opportunities with Mass Timber	Spiritos Properties LLC	NY
The Spar	Kaiser Group Inc.	OR
U.S. Mass Timber Floor Vibration Design Guide and Validation	KPFF, Inc (Portland Structural)	OR
Forging New Links Between Lands and People	Oregon Forest Resources Institute	OR
Demonstrating Use and Performance of a CLT Modular Building Utilizing Low‐value Pine Lumber from Logs Harvested in Pacific NW Forest Restoration Programs	Oregon State University	OR
Fire Performance of Custom CLT Layups Utilizing Pine from Logs Harvested in Western Forest Restoration Programs	Oregon State University	OR
Wood-to-Biochar Business Opportunity Development	Pennsylvania State University	PA
Biomass Gasification Cluster to Create Renewable Natural Gas for Transport Fuel in Missouri	Clean Development International	UT
Expanding Market Opportunities to Improve Forest Health and Utilization	Virginia Department of Forestry	VA
Expanding Markets for Thermally-modified Wood Products Produced from Low-value Hardwood Species	Virginia Tech	VA
Design, Engineering and Cost Estimation for a Demonstration CLT Townhouse	Halevi Development Co.	WA
Catalyzing Large Scale Restoration and Economic Development in the Eastern Cascades	The Nature Conservancy	WA
Developing an Export Oriented U.S. Wood Pellet Industry in the Pacific Northwest with a Focus on the Asian Market	University of Washington	WA
Accelerating the Adoption of Round Timber Trusses in Commercial Construction	Whole Trees, LLC	WI
Producing CLT Panels from Low Value Appalachian Hardwoods: Part 2, Demonstrating CLT Panel Production, Properties, and Use	West Virginia University	WV

Distribution channels: Agriculture, Farming & Forestry Industry

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