WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2023 – The U.S. Division of Agriculture’s Forest Service right now introduced it’s going to provide $41 million by means of the 2023 Wooden Improvements Grant and 2023 Group Wooden Grant applications to spark innovation and create new markets for wooden merchandise and renewable wooden vitality.
Made attainable partly by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, these grants develop wooden merchandise use and strengthen rising wooden vitality markets, supporting sustainable forest administration – notably in areas of excessive wildfire danger.
“With the assist of the Inflation Discount Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation, USDA is finishing up the Biden-Harris Administration’s mission to assist rural, forest-dependent communities whereas combating local weather change and defending our pure sources,” stated Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
“These grant applications present alternatives for communities and companies to develop revolutionary makes use of and markets for wooden, a renewable and economical useful resource,” stated Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. “Earlier Wooden Improvements Grants are making a distinction throughout the nation, and we’re happy to proceed supporting wooden use ingenuity that helps our communities and forests.”
The applying deadline for each grant applications is Thursday, March 23, 2023 at 5 p.m. native time. Functions could also be submitted by way of e-mail to the Forest Service Regional Wooden Improvements coordinator listed within the utility directions.
Not solely are these grants serving to assist native economies by increasing the potential of wooden merchandise and wooden vitality, they’re additionally serving to deal with crucial points like local weather change. By discovering new makes use of and increasing present makes use of for wooden merchandise and vitality constructed from supplies faraway from unhealthy, overgrown forests, we are able to restore forests to well being, scale back wildfire danger, battle local weather change and maintain native economies.
The Wooden Improvements Grant Program makes funding accessible to develop conventional wooden use tasks, advance wooden vitality markets, and promote wooden use in business constructing development. This Request for Proposals focuses on this system’s market improvement objectives to cut back hazardous fuels and enhance forest well being on nationwide forests and different forest lands, scale back the prices of forest administration, and promote economically sturdy and environmentally wholesome communities.
Eligible mission examples embody:
- Architectural and engineering designs, value analyses, and allowing to safe financing for business wooden development or wooden vitality tasks improvement.
- Establishing or growing wooden merchandise manufacturing to assist forest restoration.
- Showcasing environmental and financial advantages of wooden as a sustainable business constructing materials to encourage progress within the business.
- Establishing statewide wooden use groups or wooden vitality groups.
- Growing wooden vitality tasks that use residues from wooden merchandise or woody biomass.
- Growing business woody biomass and wooden product industrial parks.
- Overcoming market limitations to stimulate wooden vitality growth.
- Buying wooden processing gear to create markets supporting forest administration.
The Group Wooden Grant Program funds shovel-ready tasks to put in thermally led group wooden vitality techniques or construct revolutionary wooden product services to assist wholesome forests and stimulate native economies by increasing renewable wooden vitality and revolutionary wooden merchandise manufacturing capability.
Eligible mission examples embody:
- Group wooden heating, cooling, or electrical energy techniques that change fossil fuels.
- Buy and set up of producing gear at a mass timber manufacturing facility.
- Increasing sawmills with revolutionary applied sciences, value reducing measures and better worth manufacturing strains.
- Gear buy and set up at new services producing forest merchandise biofuels.
To use for both grant, candidates have to be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM). Functions ought to present a transparent profit to underserved or traditionally marginalized folks, communities, and the forests they worth. For-profit entities, state and native governments, Indian Tribes, college districts, non-profit organizations, increased schooling establishments, public utilities, and hearth and conservation districts are eligible to use.
Extra data is obtainable on the Forest Service Wood Innovations website or at grants.gov.
2023 Wooden Improvements Funding Alternative: www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=345548
2023 Group Wooden Power and Wooden Innovation Program: www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=345549
Since 2015, the Group Wooden Grant and Wooden Innovation Grant applications have offered greater than $93 million to 381 recipients to assist wooden merchandise and wooden vitality tasks.
USDA touches the lives of all Individuals every day in so many constructive methods. Underneath the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is remodeling America’s meals system with a better deal with extra resilient native and regional meals manufacturing, selling competitors and fairer markets for all producers, making certain entry to protected, wholesome and nutritious meals in all communities, constructing new markets and streams of earnings for farmers and producers utilizing climate-smart meals and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clear vitality capabilities in rural America, and committing to fairness throughout the Division by eradicating systemic limitations and constructing a workforce extra consultant of America. To be taught extra, go to www.usda.gov.
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