Wood Utilization Assistance | USDA FS WOOD INNOVATIONS 2025

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA FS WOOD INNOVATIONS 2025

The Wood Utilization Assistance opportunity (USDA Forest Service, Wood Innovations Funding Opportunity) is a discretionary grant program designed to rapidly grow wood products and wood energy markets across the United States. The basic idea is to turn a major forest management challenge into an economic opportunity: large volumes of hazardous fuels and other low-value wood residues need to be removed from National Forest System lands and other forestlands to reduce wildfire risk and improve forest health, and the Forest Service wants proposals that create or strengthen markets that can use that material in practical, scalable ways. This funding is tied to several federal authorities, including the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill), Rural Revitalization Technologies authorities, and the Inflation Reduction Act, all of which emphasize forest restoration, rural economic development, and climate- and resilience-oriented investments.

Program priorities center on three connected outcomes. First, projects should help reduce hazardous fuels and improve forest health on National Forest System lands as well as other public and private forestlands, which directly supports restoration and wildfire risk reduction goals. Second, proposals should lower the costs of forest management across land ownership types by improving utilization pathways for removed material, making restoration work more financially feasible over time. Third, the Forest Service is looking for projects that deliver tangible community benefits by improving local and regional economic conditions (jobs, business activity, local manufacturing) while also supporting environmental goals like reduced waste and more sustainable building and energy solutions.

The solicitation is focused on later-stage, implementation-ready work rather than early brainstorming or concept development. Competitive projects are expected to be far enough along that grant funds will help them clear final hurdles and move into construction, financing, or deployment. Examples of the kinds of activities the Forest Service says it will support include completing the technical and administrative requirements that often block projects from reaching the finish line, such as engineering designs, detailed cost analyses, and permitting. This includes late-stage commercial construction projects where wood is a primary building material (for example, mass timber or other wood-based structural systems), and late-stage wood energy projects that need final development work to secure financing. The notice is explicit that early-phase project development is unlikely to be competitive.

Beyond late-stage preconstruction and permitting, the program also encourages proposals that build durable market infrastructure. That includes expanding manufacturing capacity and other wood products infrastructure (such as processing, handling, and supply chain capability) and strengthening markets for wood products that align with forest ecosystem restoration needs. Another eligible direction is demonstration and measurement: projects can showcase real-world, quantifiable environmental and economic benefits of using wood as a sustainable building material in an actual commercial building, and then model the projected national benefits if similar approaches were replicated more broadly based on construction market trends. In addition, the program supports capacity-building at the state level through the creation of statewide wood utilization teams and statewide wood energy teams, but only in states that do not currently have (and have not previously had) such a team. Finally, the Forest Service is interested in coordinated, replicable energy approaches, such as developing a cluster of wood energy projects within a defined geography or within a specific sector like prisons, hospitals, universities, manufacturing, or industrial facilities, as well as efforts aimed at overcoming market barriers that are limiting wood energy expansion in the commercial sector.

Eligibility is broad and includes for-profit entities, state and local governments, Indian Tribes, school districts, community and nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, and special purpose districts (for example public utility districts, fire districts, conservation districts, and ports). The opportunity is listed under CFDA 10.674 and is administered by the USDA Forest Service. The award ceiling is $300,000 per award. The original closing date listed is 2024-12-11. Applicants are directed to official Forest Service application materials (including Form FS-1500-050) and program instructions, and a pre-recorded webcast is available that walks through how to apply and what the agency is looking for.

In practical terms, the strongest proposals will usually be those that can clearly connect forest restoration needs and feedstock supply (hazardous fuels reduction and utilization of residues) to concrete market outcomes (wood product manufacturing, mass timber or wood-based construction, or commercially viable wood energy), while also demonstrating readiness to execute. A clear plan for measurable benefits, a realistic pathway to financing or deployment, and a strong explanation of how the project reduces treatment costs and supports local communities are central themes embedded throughout the opportunity description.

• The Forest Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Wood Utilization Assistance" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.674.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-10-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-12-11. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $300,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for USDA FS WOOD INNOVATIONS 2025

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