August 18, 20206 3:30 a.m. 

On Monday, Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced the U.S. Forest Service is investing over $15 million in 20 wood innovations projects in Oregon that support active management of national forests and grasslands, promote wood and energy infrastructure by increasing manufacturing capacity and operational efficiencies and support rural economic prosperity and jobs.

A joint release said the federal funding is critical to ensuring the state’s leadership in the wood products industry, while helping to restore healthy forests and reduce wildfire risk.

Merkley said, “Oregon has the best wood products in the world, and federal support helps keep our state at the forefront of timber innovation while uplifting our rural communities”. Merkley is the lead Democrat on the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee which funds the USFS. Merkley said, “These projects are a win-win to develop new Oregon-made wood products and reduce wildfire risk in our forests”.

Wyden said, “Our state’s world-renowned wood products industry only gets stronger with federal investments like these that sharpen its cutting edge, keep generating jobs and less the dangers from wildfires.”. Wyden said, “This is more than $15 million worth of good news for Oregon, and I’ll continue working to secure similar key investments statewide”.

Among the projects selected is just over $577,000 for Roseburg Forest Products to retrofit a manual laminated veneer lumber layup line with commercially proven automated layup equipment to improve efficiency.

A full list of the projects being funded around the state is listed here:

Wood Products Infrastructure Assistance (WPIA)

• $2,000,000 for Prairie Wood Products LLC in Prairie City for restarting and upgrading an existing sawmill facility to process low value logs in Eastern Oregon.
• $2,000,000 for Malheur Forest Products LLC in John Day for retrofitting, modernizing and reopening an idle sawmill to handle small diameter and low value logs.
• $265,809 for Forestry First LLC in Gilchrist to add a lug loader to an existing sawmill to increase efficiency of mill operations.
• $2,000,000 for Co-Gen CO. LLC in Prairie City to reopen and upgrade a combined heat and power biomass energy system co-located with a sawmill to provide fuel.
• $2,000,000 for Wren Hill Lumber LLC in Philomath to upgrade a sawmill to increase capacity and efficiency, and to allow use of small diameter logs.
• $2,000,000 for Biodynamics LLC in Hines to restart idle equipment and install new equipment to integrate product lines and provide more markets for small diameter and low value logs.

Wood Innovations Grants: 

• $300,000 for FIX Infrastructure, LLC in Gaston to complete engineering and design to co-locate a wood energy and biochar production system at a sawmill to expand markets for mill residuals.
• $200,000 for Single Widget, LLC in Portland to advance production of wood wool wall building products to increase utilization of low-value biomass.
• $346,712 for Stimson Lumber Company in Tillamook to upgrade sawmill production equipment to increase lumber production.
• $295,292 for World Forestry Center in Portland to design and engineer a publicly accessible mass timber pavilion to accelerate domestic wood product markets.
• $150,000 for Malheur Forest Products LLC in John Day to complete permitting and other requirements to reopen sawmill facility.
• $243,610 for Mount Hood Forest Products in Hood River to upgrade lumber production technologies.
• • $247,922 for Wyeast Timber Services LLC in Hood River to install wood processing equipment to expand small diameter wood utilization.
  • $300,000 for Cedarstone LLC in Eugene to develop production processes and products to increase mass timber in prefabricated homes.
  • $300,000 for the University of Oregon in Eugene to accelerate adoption of mass timber by addressing acoustical considerations.
  • $300,000 for Traeger Pellet Grills, LLC in Sweet Home to automate wood pellet processing to increase biomass utilization.
  • $300,000 for Solid Carbon, Inc. in McMinnville to create a market pathway for bioenergy waste in the western US.

  Community Wood Grants

  • $1,000,000 for Brink Brothers Inc to install a wood-fired kiln system utilizing low value materials to produce dried firewood.
  • $577,231 for Roseburg Forest Products Company to retrofit a manual laminated veneer lumber (LVL) layup line with commercially proven automated layup equipment to improve efficiency.
  • $264,461 for Neiman Enterprises, Inc. to restore a biomass cogeneration system offline since 2020, converting wood residuals into renewable on-site heat and electricity.