By Scott Lyon, Wisconsin DNR Forest Products Team Leader

Wisconsin’s forest products industry will benefit from new federal investments through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service’s 2026 Wood Innovations Grant program. The Forest Service recently announced $105.5 million in grants nationwide to support wood products manufacturing, expand markets for wood and wood energy, strengthen rural economies and encourage innovative uses of America’s forest resources.

The Wood Innovations Program is designed to stimulate and expand markets for wood products and wood energy while supporting sustainable forest management. National priorities include mass timber, renewable wood energy, innovative wood products and technologies that can help reduce hazardous fuels and the costs of forest management.

Wisconsin recipients of the 2026 Wood Innovations awards include:

• Cooper & Sons Timber, LLC, Blue River, Wisconsin: Upgrade sawmill processing technologies to increase production capacity in Wisconsin. $194,699
• Timber Professionals Cooperative Enterprises, Tilleda, Wisconsin: Upgrade a chip mill to increase market access for low-value and small diameter timber to replace markets lost by papermill closures. $1,000,000
• Bookends North, LLC, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Develop tools to increase domestic mass timber market adoption in student housing and provide markets for small-diameter timber. $157,875

The Great Lakes Mass Timber Collaborative also received funding through a partnership with Dovetail Partners in Minnesota. The collaborative works across the Great Lakes region to advance mass timber markets, manufacturing and building opportunities, helping strengthen the regional forest products economy.

Wisconsin is represented in this regional effort by DNR forest products specialist Alex Anderson, who serves as a member of the Great Lakes Mass Timber Collaborative. His participation provides a connection between Wisconsin’s forest products industry and regional efforts to expand mass timber markets, share expertise and identify opportunities for collaboration.

Together, these investments and partnerships demonstrate the importance of collaboration at the state, regional and federal levels to strengthen wood markets, support forest products businesses and increase the utilization of Wisconsin’s forest resources.

The Wisconsin DNR’s Forest Products Services team played a supporting role in the grant process. Drawing on the team’s extensive experience in forest products utilization, markets and manufacturing, DNR staff assisted Wisconsin applicants with proposal reviews and provided letters of support for their applications.

Following the announcement of the Wisconsin awards, the DNR Forest Products Services team will continue to support the recipients by providing technical assistance related to mill upgrades and other project improvements. This assistance will help Wisconsin businesses successfully implement their projects and maximize the benefits of these federal investments.

Through these efforts, the DNR is helping connect federal investment with Wisconsin’s forest products industry and ensuring that projects are supported by technical expertise in wood utilization, markets and manufacturing.

This collaboration between the US Forest Service and the DNR helps connect federal investments with local knowledge and technical expertise. The resulting projects have the potential to strengthen Wisconsin’s forest products infrastructure, improve the utilization of Wisconsin-grown wood and create new opportunities for the state’s forest economy.

The 2026 awards demonstrate the continued potential for innovation across Wisconsin’s forest products sector. By connecting forest resources with new products, technologies and markets, these projects can help strengthen the state’s forest products economy while contributing to healthy and sustainably managed forests.

If you have a potential future project idea, please feel free to connect with the Wisconsin DNR. For more information and the complete list of 2026 Wood Innovations recipients, visit the USDA Forest Service Wood Innovations Program.