During National Forest Products Week, the USDA Forest Service announced it is making nearly $34 million in funding available through its Wood Innovations, Community Wood and Wood Products Infrastructure Assistance grant programs. The Forest Service is seeking proposals that support crucial links between resilient, healthy forests, strong rural economies and jobs in the forestry sector. Funding for these programs is intended to spark innovation, create new markets for wood products and renewable wood energy and expand processing capacity. You can read the full news release on the Forest Service’s website.
Forest products
Larry Krueger Shares Insights From Forest Products Industry Career
Photo credit: Larry Krueger.
The people who make Wisconsin’s forest products industry function are vast and varied. It’s estimated that more than 123,000 jobs in the state are tied to the forest industry. From the foresters and woodland owners caring for the forest to the loggers and truckers getting the logs from the forest to the sawmills and pulp mills throughout the state to the workers creating finished wood and paper products, it takes a wealth of passionate people to produce the many forest products you depend on every day.
Larry Krueger, a co-owner and sawmill manager of Krueger Lumber, is one of those working in the heart of Wisconsin’s forest products industry – fitting, as Krueger said he was born into it.
“My father Herb Krueger started Krueger Lumber in 1969,” Krueger continued. “The more you see the beautiful, natural products from our forest, the more you grow to love and appreciate its beauty.”
In his role, Krueger wears many hats. His day at the mill begins at 6:15 a.m. with a hard hat as he tours the sawmill to ensure smooth operations.
“I speak to various workers at different production points, checking for any problems and to see what’s new. I walk from the sawmill to the dry kilns and warehouses. I stop at the different lumber grading areas, speaking to the graders about any questions or issues they are seeing in the kiln-dried lumber being re-graded for quality,” he said.
Selling kiln-dried lumber is one of Krueger’s top priorities; after ensuring everything is running smoothly, he trades in his hard hat for a sales pitch.
“Throughout the rest of the day, I speak with and email regular and potential customers,” Krueger said. Continue reading “Larry Krueger Shares Insights From Forest Products Industry Career”
How Wisconsin’s Forests And Climate Initiatives Are Shaping A Sustainable Future
Wood stores carbon throughout its life. Photo credit: DNR
Wisconsin’s forests and forest products have a dual role in climate change. They are impacted by climate change, but also help mitigate its effects by storing carbon in wood products from sustainably harvested forests.
Sustainably managed forests in Wisconsin provide essential raw materials for more than 1,200 wood product companies and 280 logging businesses. Annual forest growth in the state significantly exceeds the volume harvested. In 2013, Wisconsin’s primary wood-using mills received 307 million cubic feet of industrial roundwood, while net growth reached 576 million cubic feet — an impressive 18 cubic feet of wood growing every second – and enough to fill Camp Randall Stadium roughly 108 times over.
When sustainably harvested wood is used in long-lived products such as lumber, furniture, windows and doors, it stores carbon throughout its life, only releasing it back into the atmosphere when it decays. Compared to concrete and steel, wood is gaining popularity as a building material due to its carbon-storing capacity – about half of dry wood is carbon – and its renewability. Additionally, it requires a less energy-intensive manufacturing process.
Continue reading “How Wisconsin’s Forests And Climate Initiatives Are Shaping A Sustainable Future”
The Economic Powerhouse Of Wisconsin’s Forest Products Industry
Wisconsin exported around $1.3 billion worth of forest products in 2022. Photo credit: DNR
The economic impact of Wisconsin’s forests cannot be understated.
The annual value of products from Wisconsin’s forest industry is over $24 billion, representing 2.3% of the state’s gross domestic product. Forest industries in Wisconsin employ around 58,000 individuals.
The economic influence of Wisconsin’s forest products industry extends to other sectors through inter-industry transactions and household spending. The forest products industry contributed an additional 66,000 jobs and $13.1 billion in output, bringing the total to over 123,000 jobs and $38 billion in production tied to the forest products sector. To help contextualize the scale of that impact, consider this: For every ten jobs in the forest products industry, 11 jobs were created in other areas of the economy.
Continue reading “The Economic Powerhouse Of Wisconsin’s Forest Products Industry”
The Everyday Impact Of Wisconsin’s Forest Products
It’s estimated 10 to 15 billion cubic feet of wood are used by Americans each year. Photo credit: DNR
Would you be able to name all the wood products you use daily? Paper is the most obvious, but wood products are all around you. From the insulation in your walls to the gum you chew after lunch, wood and forest products are almost everywhere you look, and many of them originate right here in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin’s primary forest products industry consists of firms that process logs and pulpwood into wood and paper products. Examples include sawmills, plywood mills, veneer plants, pulp mills, firewood processors and companies that manufacture log cabins, smoking pellets and other similar products.
Continue reading “The Everyday Impact Of Wisconsin’s Forest Products”
Five Years Later, Effects Of Derecho Remain
By Art Kabelowsky, DNR Outreach and Communications, Fitchburg;
Arthur.Kabelowsky@wisconsin.gov; 608-335-0167
Over the night of July 19-20, 2019, Mother Nature carved a massive swath of destruction through northern Wisconsin.
Today, after years of hard work cleaning up after the massive derecho windstorm of ’19, local foresters, work crews and landowners have only begun to understand the breadth and depth of the damage as they process the lessons learned.
In many areas, the recovery work remains incomplete. Some of that forest damage will never receive direct attention.
Continue reading “Five Years Later, Effects Of Derecho Remain”
Wood Innovations Grant Program
The USDA Forest Service is announcing the availability of $20 million in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to support projects that will substantially expand and accelerate wood products and wood energy markets throughout the United States. Additional funds from annual agency appropriations will be subject to availability. The intent is to stimulate, expand and support U.S. wood products and wood energy markets to support long-term management of National Forest System and other forest lands while enhancing the economic and environmental health of communities.
Eligible applicants include for-profit entities, state and local governments, Indian Tribes, school districts, communities, not-for-profit organizations, institutes of higher education and species purpose districts (e.g., public utilities districts, fire districts, conservation districts and ports).
Wisconsin DNR Begins State Nursery Biochar Trial
By Brian Zweifel, DNR Forest Products Specialist, Brian.Zweifel@wisconsin.gov
What is Biochar?
Microscopic structure of biochar. Photo credit: UK Biochar Research Centre
Biochar is basically just charcoal with a special mission, to be used in the soil. The US Biochar Initiative (USBI) defines it as “carbonized biomass obtained from sustainable sources and sequestered in soils to sustainably enhance their agricultural and environmental value under present and future management.”
Biomass, such as unmerchantable wood waste, is transformed into this carbon-rich material in a low oxygen environment, cooking most non-carbon materials out of it and leaving the material’s basic structure intact. This carbon skeleton is what gives biochar many of its desirable properties.
Continue reading “Wisconsin DNR Begins State Nursery Biochar Trial”
Wisconsin Forests – Rooted In Our Lives, Rooted In Our Economy
By Kelly Martinson, Program and Policy Coordinator, DNR Forest Products Team
Governor Tony Evers proclaimed the third week in October as Forest Products Week in Wisconsin to recognize forests’ essential role in the state’s environment and economy. This week celebrates Wisconsinites who work in the forest products industry while considering the many ways forest products can improve our lives. Forest Products Week also highlights Wisconsinites working in and caring for our state’s forest land. Continue reading “Wisconsin Forests – Rooted In Our Lives, Rooted In Our Economy”
Wood Energy – Renewable And Locally Available
Did you know that wood energy makes up a large percentage of Wisconsin’s renewable energy consumption? In 2017, biomass (including wood) accounted for an estimated 70% of the state’s renewable energy use. Are you a business, school or institution interested in learning more about whether wood energy is a good fit for you? See how the Forest Products Services program can help!
Source: https://psc.wi.gov/Pages/Programs/OEI/WisconsinEnergyStatistics.aspx