§7655b Forestry products advanced utilization research

Summary

Create a forestry and wood-products research and extension program to make and share science-based tools for the forestry sector, landowners and managers, and companies that make wood products. The work must fund research on improving lumber strength and grade yield, new engineered wood products and wood-based energy, and ways to keep timberland healthy, sustainable, and profitable. It must also show how wood can be a green building material (including life cycle studies) and support projects to improve standards, valuation, on-forest management, and manufacturing efficiency and marketing. The Secretary must award competitive grants to do this work. Grants should favor multistate, multiinstitutional, or multidisciplinary teams that share results widely and have proven forestry research experience, capacity, and ways to respond to industry needs. The Secretary must follow paragraphs (4), (7), (8), and (11)(B) of subsection (b) of section 3157. Grants may not exceed 10 years and must be coordinated with the Forest Service, including the Forest Products Laboratory, and other USDA agencies. An annual report to the House and Senate agriculture committees must describe the research under subsection (b)(2), the number of Forest Service buildings built with wood as the primary structural material, and Forest Service investments in green building and wood promotion. Congress authorized $7,000,000 for each fiscal year 2014 through 2023. To the extent practicable, the Secretary must match those funds with funds available under section 1646 of title 16.