The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service announced it is making up to $34 million in funding available to support innovation and jobs in the forestry sector while supporting healthy forest landscapes.
The agency is seeking proposals that will spark innovation, create new markets for sustainable wood products and renewable wood energy, and expand processing capacity.
The funding, made possible by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, is available through the Forest Service’s three key grant programmes to support the forest products economy: Wood Innovations Grant, Community Wood Grant, and Wood Products Infrastructure Assistance Grant Programmes.
The agency is seeking proposals that support innovative uses of sustainably sourced wood in construction, as a renewable energy source, and in manufactured and processed products.
These programmes also provide direct support to expand and retrofit wood energy systems and wood products manufacturing facilities nationwide.
The Forest Service is requesting proposals from eligible entities in the private, non-profit, and government sectors including tribes, local and state governments, businesses and for-profit entities, institutions of higher education, as well as public utility, fire, conservation, and school districts, among others.
