Merkley, Wyden Announce More Than $15 Million in Federal Grants to Support Oregon Wood Product Industry, Rural Economies, Jobs

Washington, D.C. - Today, Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is investing $15,091,037 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. This 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.

"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," said Merkley, the lead Democrat on the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee which funds the USFS. "These projects are a win-win to develop new Oregon-made wood products and reduce wildfire risk in our forests."

"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 lessen 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."

Merkley leads and Wyden cosponsors the Mass Timber Federal BuildingsAct to promote the use of mass timber in federal building projects and military construction. Merkley also leads the Supporting American Wood and Mill Infrastructure with Loans for Longevity (SAWMILL) Act to unlock federal dollars to support mills retooling or modernizing their infrastructure, enabling them to process hazardous fuels coming off public lands.

These investments in Oregon are part of a broader suite of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's USFS Wood Innovations Program grants for public, private, and non-profit sectors, totaling $105.5 millionfor projects across the country this year.

The 20 projects selected in Oregon are being funded in three Wood Innovations Program Grants categories, which are as follows:

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.

"This investment will help move our Prairie City projects forward, beginning with restarting the cogeneration facility and continuing to evaluate opportunities for the sawmill. Together, these efforts have the potential to create and sustain family-wage jobs, improve forest health, reduce wildfire risk, and strengthen Oregon's forest products industry," said Jodi Westbrooks, President of DR Johnson Lumber and Prairie Wood Products.

"This award lets us put idle equipment at our Hines mill back to work, converting small-diameter and salvage logs from the Malheur National Forest into wood pellets and other valuable products. We're grateful to the U.S. Forest Service for investing in this kind of local processing capacity, and to Senators Merkley and Wyden for standing behind a project that brings year-round manufacturing jobs to Harney County," said Chuck Eggert, Biodynamics, LLC.

"We've fought through some difficult years to keep people working and keep the forest products industry alive in Grant County. When times were tough, we stayed, we kept investing, and we kept believing in this community. This $2+ million investment will help us build on that commitment by putting Malheur Forest Products back to work, creating family-wage jobs and strengthening the infrastructure needed to actively manage our forests. We're grateful to USDA and Senators Wyden and Merkley for investing with us in the future of Grant County," said Russ Young, Malheur Forest Products.

###