USDA Forest Service Awards Wood Innovation Grants In 20 States

by | May 22, 2018 | News

USDA Forest Service Interim Chief Vicki Christiansen recently 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.

Read more on this from the USDA Forest Service at https://www.fs.fed.us/news/releases/usda-forest-service-awards-wood-innovation-grants-expand-and-accelerate-wood-products.

Brian Luoma Picked To Lead Alabama’s Westervelt Company

by | Mar 22, 2017 | News

Brian Luoma Picked To Lead Alabama’s Westervelt Company

 

The Westervelt Company named Brian Luoma as President and CEO, succeeding Mike Case, who announced his retirement after more than 32 years with the company. Luoma will oversee Westervelt Lumber, Westervelt Renewable Energy, Westervelt Forest Resources, Westervelt Communities, Westervelt Ecological Services and Westervelt New Zealand.

Luoma most recently served as executive vice president and general manager, Siding, with Louisiana-Pacific Corp.

Jon Warner, Chairman of the Board at The Westervelt Co., based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, comments, “Brian’s proven leadership and vision will be essential in leading our company.”

“I am thrilled to join the Westervelt team,” Luoma says. “The company’s commitment to excellence and focus on sustainability are the driving forces behind 133 years of success.”

Since 1987, Luoma held roles of increasing responsibility with LP. Luoma graduated in Forestry from Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. He worked for LP while attending college, first as an assistant log scaler at the LP stud mill in Fort Bragg, California and then in the woods as a forestry technician. After graduating he worked for Simpson Timber in Korbel for a year before rejoining LP as timberlands manager in northern California. He then became wood procurement manager for LP’s Western Region. He later led LP’s Northern operations OSB group in Hayward, Wisconsin before moving to LP headquarters as head of forestry, wood procurement and logistics.

He advanced to LP’s vice president of Engineered Wood Products before becoming executive vice president and GM over LP Siding, based at headquarters in Nashville, Tennnessee.

Westervelt operates a high production, modernized southern yellow pine sawmill at Moundville, Alabama, a large industrial wood pellet plant in Aliceville, Alabama, and owns/manages 500,000 acres of timberland.

For more information on The Westervelt Company visit westervelt.com.

 

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USDA Awards Funds To Grow Wood Energy And Wood Products Markets

by | May 20, 2016 | News

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell today announced over $8.5 million to expand and accelerate technologies and strategies that promote the use of wood in commercial construction, heat and power generation, and other wood product innovations that also benefit forest health. Federal funds will leverage more than $18 million in investments from 42 business, university, nonprofit and Tribal partners in 19 states, for a total investment of $27 million.

“We are looking for opportunities to reduce forest restoration costs and create more jobs through strong forest products markets,” said Chief Tidwell. “This funding supports improving forest health on the National Forest System lands and other forested lands and promotes the economic and environmental well being of rural communities.”

The awarded funds will stimulate the use of hazardous fuels from National Forest System lands and other forested lands to promote forest health while simultaneously generating rural jobs. This year, 77 proposals were received for the Forest Service’s Wood Innovations grant program, highlighting the expanding interest and use of wood as a renewable energy source and as an innovative building material.

Healthy markets for forest products help the nation’s forests mitigate some of the impacts of climate change. Research has demonstrated that wood products from responsibly managed forests outperform other building materials in measures of greenhouse gas intensity, air and water pollution and other environmental impacts. Responsibly-sourced forest products also provide income for private landowners that keep their land forested and supports needed investments in forest management to provide clean water, wildlife habitat, and other resources millions of Americans depend upon.

Today’s announcement supports USDA’s Building Blocks for Climate Smart Agriculture and Forestry-a comprehensive effort to provide America’s farmers, ranchers and forest landowners with the tools and resources they need to combat climate change. Through this work, USDA expects to reduce net emissions and enhance carbon sequestration in soils and forests by over 120 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year by 2025-the equivalent of taking 25 million cars off the road or offsetting the emissions produced by powering nearly 11 million homes each year.

From the USDA: https://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2016/05/0115.xml&contentidonly=true

Composite Panel Association Pinpoints Policy Positions

by | Nov 2, 2015 | News

From: Panel World Staff

Jackson Morrill, president of Composite Panel Association, updated the executive committee’s recommendations on “policy positions” with regard to energy/biomass issues that impact wood fiber supply during the September Fall Meeting in Banff, Alberta.

CPA opposes government policies that distort the market for woody biomass raw material, Morrill noted, adding that market forces should determine all uses of wood and wood residuals for renewable energy; policies that have the direct effect of diverting biomass supply to subsidized energy should be avoided; and governments that choose to initiate policies intended to increase demand for biomass energy production should couple them with policies that increase the available long-term supply of wood to meet future demand of composite wood panels as well as new and growing markets for energy and other uses.

Morrill said CPA will stay silent on the carbon neutrality of wood-to-energy, noting however that forest derived biomass should be treated as carbon neutral where there is a sustainable growing forest; within carbon accounting frameworks, the composite panel industry’s use of wood residuals to make long-lived products should be treated as a higher value use than energy recovery; the composite panel industry’s use of wood residuals is an important alternate use that should be considered when determining the scope of “qualified biomass” under the U.S. EPA Clean Power Plan.

Morrill said CPA will advocate that composite wood products be recognized for their carbon sequestration benefits; that public policies should recognize that sustainably managed forests and forest products sequester and store carbon and reduce CO2; the use of biomass in creating long-lived products that serve as carbon sinks should be formally recognized in any carbon calculations that might be referenced in a future carbon economy.

Montana Senator Helps Secure $250,000 For SmartLam

by | Apr 15, 2015 | News

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., helped secure a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for SmartLam, a cross-laminated timber manufacturer and distributor in Columbia Falls.

In January, Tester wrote a letter of support for SmartLam’s Wood Innovations Planning Grant application. The grant was announced last week.

“The folks at SmartLam are producing a unique product, and these additional resources will help them continue to grow and hire folks in the Flathead Valley,” Tester said in a news release. “Successful operations like SmartLam continue to show the country the high quality businesses here in Montana.”

SmartLam is the first manufacturer and distributor of cross-laminated timber products in the United States. When its expansion is complete, it will be the largest cross-laminated timber manufacturer in the world.

Wood Innovations Grants are awarded to companies that use wood products as a renewable energy source and as a building material. The money is designed to increase the use of wildfire fuel from public lands to promote forest health and create jobs.

From the Daily Inter Lake: https://www.dailyinterlake.com/members/tester-helps-secure-for-smartlam/article_ffe490e2-e2f2-11e4-b4b7-a774ff6ea976.html