Thousands of ‘public buildings’ across the US, including schools, colleges, office blocks and military installations, could be built from ‘innovative wood products’ after a new bill, which would see the establishment of the Mass Timber Federal Buildings Act 2025, could see the removal of several barriers to market adoption.
The Act—which has been read for a second time before Congress—aims to incentivise the use of mass timber in federal building contracts. It comes weeks after President Trump issued an executive order to “free up forests for timber production.”
Introduced by Senators Jeff Merkley (a Democrat) and James Risch (a Republican) and co-sponsored by Ron Wyden (a Democrat) and Mike Crapo (a Republican), the bill is the latest push to promote an industry expected to grow 25 to 40-fold over the coming 30 years. It will prioritise locally grown and manufactured timber over imports – currently 10-15% cheaper than US-made equivalents – amid a race to use mass timber and hybrid timber systems in public buildings worldwide.
Announcing the bill, Senators Merkley of Oregon and Risch of Idaho said that mass timber creates jobs in rural and urban communities, reduces fire risk, increases resilience, and helps shrink carbon footprints: “By using mass timber in federal projects, our bipartisan efforts will help tackle our nation’s biggest challenges whilst creating good-paying jobs in Oregon and across the Pacific Northwest,” Senator Merkley said.
“As a trained forester, I understand how important the timber industry is to Idaho communities, wildfire risk reduction and forest management,” Senator Risch said. “The Mass Timber Federal Buildings Act is commonsense legislation to benefit Idaho’s forests, create jobs and increase economic growth.”
According to Senator Wyden of Oregon, mass timber has enormous potential to generate jobs, reduce carbon emissions, and develop an innovative approach to combating the housing shortage nationwide. “Boosting demand for timber in the construction of federal buildings will harness the incredible work already done in our forests, creating new opportunities for Idaho companies, workers and products,” Senator Crapo of Idaho said.
Should it pass, the Act will mandate a preference in federal building contracts for mass timber products. “This will give mass timber companies the ability to compete for federal construction, renovation, or acquisition of public buildings and military construction,” according to a statement supporting the bill.
The act would see a two-tier preference introduced into all federal contracts.
The bill creates a two-tier contracting preference—the first applies to mass timber coming from state, federal, private, and Tribal forestlands, whilst the optional second applies to mass timber products sourced from restoration practices, fire mitigation projects, and underserved forest owners. In addition, there will be a requirement to conduct building lifecycle assessments, which will provide data to learn more about carbon sequestration in mass timber buildings.
Endorsed by the American Wood Council, Sustainable Northwest, Forest Landowners Association, National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO), Weyerhaeuser, Freres Engineered Wood, Oregon Forest Industries Council, Composite Recycling Technology Center (CRTC), Oregon director, Washington Mass Timber Accelerator, Pacific Northwest Mass Timber Tech Hub, American Forest Resource Council, and Oregon Department of Forestry, industry hopes the Act will stimulate an industry that last year slowed down in line with construction activity.
According to the 339-page Mass Timber Report handed out to delegates during the International Mass Timber Conference last month, the US demand for mass timber buildings declined by 20% last year, down from 197 buildings (either built or commencing construction) in 2023 to 155, with developers squeezed out by high interest rates.
“Another 1,168 projects are in the design stage in the US as of December, indicating that there is strong demand for mass timber construction once funding becomes available and affordable,” the report said, revealing the industry was operating at 39% manufacturing capacity (down from 47% last year).
Last year, Wood Central reported that “favourable public policies and the removal of barriers to market adoption” could see mass timber grow from 0.362 million cubic metres or 0.4% of the American softwood industry to between 452 million and 750 million cubic metres, with “the greatest adoption rates projected for the seven-stories and higher,” fuelled by a surge in new buildings in the South (43%), followed by the West (23%), the Midwest (21%) and the Northeast (13%).
