PORTLAND — On Sept. 14, Sustainable Northwest, in partnership with the Climate Smart Wood Group, was awarded a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to bring together Tribal, small family forest, and nonprofit wood producers with data scientists and the design and construction industry to manage and restore tens of thousands of acres in Oregon and Washington to accelerate the Climate-Smart Wood Economy.
Greg Block, Sustainable Northwest president, said, “This is a critical investment to bridge the gap between climate-smart wood producers and growing demand from the green building sector. A deeper understanding of the climate impacts of forest products will enable the architecture, engineering and construction industry to more accurately reduce its carbon emissions while creating incentives for ecological forest management and thriving rural communities.”
Sustainable Northwest is working in partnership with the Climate Smart Wood Group to support eight Tribes and 185 family, community, and nonprofit forests to apply climate-smart forest management and restoration on 66,018 acres of forestland in Oregon and Washington.
This project will pilot and refine methods to track carbon and other climate impacts while supplying resources for construction teams to procure climate-smart wood and increase market access and recognition for small, family and Tribal forest wood products. Building the Climate-Smart Wood Economy means forging closer relationships between urban and rural communities as well as producers and consumers, and demonstrating that businesses can thrive while contributing to environmental and economic health, said a press release.
“This grant award will support leadership and innovations that can reduce the sizable carbon dioxide emissions from the building sector," said Aaron Everett, director of the Climate Smart Wood Group. "Next-generation wood products like tall wood buildings must be part of climate change solutions, but these materials must also be shown to originate from climate-smart forestry that exceeds business-as-usual practices."
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