Two senators – Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, and Tim Sheehy, a Republican from Montana, have thrown their support behind a new bill that will help the lumber industry retool and reduce wildfire risk. The bill, Supporting American Wood and Mill Infrastructure with Loans for Longevity (SAWMILL) Act, aims to unlock federal dollars to support retooling and modernising their infrastructure. It will also allow them to process hazardous fuels off public lands.
“If you want to have a program for wildfire reduction, that means forest management, that means you’ve got to thin the forest, it means you have to do prescribed burns, you need to have the infrastructure ready to take those logs nearby,” Merkley said. Wood Central understands that new legislation will support mills in Oregon, Montana, and across the nation by unlocking federal dollars to support mills retooling or modernising their infrastructure, enabling them to process hazardous fuels coming off public lands.
“As the son of a millwright born in the heart of Oregon’s timber country, I know how vital our timber mills are to rural communities,” Merkley said. “This industry presents a huge opportunity for Oregon, and our bipartisan effort helps communities harness its power to create good-paying jobs, reduce wildfire risk, and increase forest resiliency. Oregon’s rural economies depend upon innovative solutions like this to tackle the challenges and opportunities facing our timber mills, and the SAWMILL Act is an important tool to do just that—a win-win for our rural communities and wildfire mitigation.”
“We used to have dozens of timber mills in Montana, but now few remain, and for too long we’ve shipped in timber from foreign countries when we could be getting it for cheaper while growing our economy right here in America,” Sheehy said. “It’s time the federal government works for, not against, working Americans, and this bill will give our timber mills the support they need to build a successful future in Montana. By embracing the resource economy, we will help create more good-paying jobs, mitigate wildfire threats, improve forest health and wildlife habitat, and revive the American Dream in rural communities across the country.”
SAWMILL Act would permanently authorise the TPEP program
The SAWMILL Act permanently authorises the US Department of Agriculture’s Timber Production Expansion Loan Guarantee Program (TPEP). The program offers low-interest, long-term loans to timber and wood processing companies for investing in their facilities and equipment, with a particular emphasis on supporting timber mills that process hazardous fuels. This simultaneously boosts rural economies and reduces wildfire risk on public lands. The Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition, Sustainable Northwest, the American Wood Council, the National Alliance of Forest Owners, American Forests, the American Forest Resource Council, and The Nature Conservancy also support it.
“The Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition strongly supports Senator Merkley’s Supporting American Wood and Mill Infrastructure with Loans for Longevity (SAWMILL) Act, which provides essential loan guarantees to help establish, expand, reopen, or modernise rural wood-processing facilities near high-priority federal lands,” said Laurel Harkness, the RVCC Coaliation director. By restoring local milling capacity, the bill reduces the cost of forest stewardship and hazardous fuels removal, making our forests healthier and communities safer. This legislation is a commonsense investment in both ecological resilience and rural economic vitality,” said Laurel Harkness, RVCC Coalition Director.
“Sustainable Northwest thanks Senator Merkley for the introduction of the SAWMILL Act. As the West faces a worsening wildfire crisis, it is more important than ever that we support the essential workforce to restore the health of our forests, create good-paying jobs in rural communities, and manufacture local, sustainable wood products right here at home,” said Dylan Kruse, President, Sustainable Northwest.
“We applaud Senators Merkley and Sheehy for their efforts to support rural communities and promote sustainable forest management,” said Dave Tenny, President and CEO of the National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO). “Expanding domestic timber-processing capacity will help reduce wildfire risk and create good-paying jobs. We look forward to working with both Senators on this and other legislation that helps build rural prosperity by sustaining both our forests and our forest products sector.”
“America’s sawmills are valuable investments in maintaining resilient forests,” said Rebecca Turner, Chief Policy and Partnerships Officer, American Forests. “The SAWMILL Act ensures that USDA will continue to play its role as a loan guarantor that will support rural communities, ensure jobs and maintain healthy forests.”
“The bipartisan SAWMILL Act recognises the critical need to maintain and expand our nation’s forest products industry infrastructure, which is essential to treating overstocked federal forests at risk of catastrophic wildfire while also sustainably producing the renewable, carbon-friendly wood products Americans use every day. Vast areas of the West have lost the sawmills and industry infrastructure needed to address the growing forest health crisis, and we’ve witnessed the disastrous consequences for our environment and rural communities. We are hopeful that Congress will advance legislation that helps spur investments in the forest sector while also increasing the volume of timber coming from our federal forests to support this infrastructure and make our forests healthier,” said Travis Joseph, President and CEO, American Forest Resource Council.
- For more information about the future of the US timber supply, click here for Wood Central’s special feature last month.
