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Northeastern Area State and Private
Forestry Director Kathryn Maloney announced that the USDA Forest Service
is awarding $1 million in grants to 17 competitively selected projects.
The grants encourage innovation and applied
research in hardwood forest products and their markets. The grants also
promote economic competitiveness of the domestic wood products
manufacturing industry located in the eastern United States.
"An important component of improving the
health of hardwood forests is applied research to promote a greater
variety of sustainable forest resources and related markets,"
said Maloney. "These projects will help advance the use of woody biomass
for energy, and support the adoption of new forest products and their
markets from our eastern hardwood forests."
Selections were based on a number of
factors, including consideration of whether the project or grant
recipient could:
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Maintain the economic competitiveness
of hardwood industries.
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Bring information and technology to
existing and emerging businesses involved in the development and
manufacturing of wood products.
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Bring marketing and business-related
skills to existing and emerging wood products businesses.
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Encourage the adoption of new
technology to improve competitiveness and profitability.
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Provide support and key information to
entrepreneurs and start-up businesses.
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Address global issues and assist
communities and industries facing threats from invasive species,
such as the emerald ash borer.
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Increase the use of woody biomass for
domestic energy use.
The maximum grant amount is $100,000.
Grantees are required to match federal funds, dollar-for-dollar. The
selected projects provide matches in excess of this
requirement, totaling $1.4 million, for a grand total of approximately
$2.4 million to be invested in these endeavors. The 17 grant recipients
include:
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Architectural Woodwork Institute
(Potomac Falls, Va.), $92,000
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Auburn Enterprises, LLC (Greene,
Maine), $100,000
College of Menominee Nation (Keshena, Wisc.), $22,469
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Empire State Forest Products
Association (Albany, N.Y.), $47,500
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Forest Source Holding Company, LLC
(Crandon, Wisc.), $53,000
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Great Lakes Forest Alliance, Inc.
(Madison, Wisc.), $44,625
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (Washington, D.C.),
$100,000
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Mississippi State University
(Mississippi State, Miss.), $56,979
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National Assoc. of Home Builders
Research Center (Upper Marlboro, Md.), $76,000
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National Association of State
Foresters (Washington, D.C.), $36,000
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Northeast Forests, LLC (Thendara,
N.Y.), $30,000
Pennsylvania State University (University Park, Pa.), $21,379 and
$52,018 (2 projects)
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University of Minnesota (Duluth,
Minn.), $44,804 and $95,479 (2 projects)
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Virginia Tech. (Blacksburg, Va.),
$79,161
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Wood Innovations, LLC (Madison, Wisc.),
$45,278
Nine projects will address increasing the
economic competitiveness of the hardwood industry, with grant awards
totaling $575,787. An additional three projects focus on
biomass utilization, with grant awards totaling 136,500. Five grants
pertain to urban wood utilization, education, and the emerald ash borer
(EAB), with grant awards totaling
$288,652. The two EAB projects focus on increased awareness of emerald
ash borer and developing methods that would allow ash wood to be
utilized in marketable products.
The selected projects competed with many other worthy proposals. In all,
projects considered sought $5.84 million in federal funds.
Funding is provided through the USDA
Forest Service Wood Education and Resource Center, located in Princeton,
W. Va., and administered by the agency's Northeastern Area State and
Private Forestry organization. The Center's mission is to
work with the forest products industry toward sustainable forest
products production for the eastern hardwood forest region. It provides
state-of-the-art training, technology
transfer, networking opportunities, applied research, and information.
Click here for more information.
The forests of the Northeast and Midwest
are important to the Nation. The 20 states served by the Northeastern
Area include 43% of the nation’s population and 25% of the nation’s
forests, of which 93% are non-federally owned. |
