Partnerships

To find innovative solutions to practical challenges in managing and utilizing natural resources and to expedite the discovery and application of new science, the Forest Products Laboratory enters into partnerships and cooperative agreements.

We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with industry, academia, trade associations, tribes, non-government organizations, and federal, state, and local government agencies to share usable information and technology.

Photo Credit

USDA Forest Service photo.

P3Nano meeting participants at the Forest Products Lab in May 2024.

A continued partnership with U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (U.S. Endowment) is a public-private partnership model demonstrating how we can quickly move new discoveries from the Lab into new applications and commercialization. Doing so helps create more sustainable products and businesses using wood. Since 2013, the U.S. Endowment and Forest Products Laboratory have partnered through the P3Nano Program to develop sustainable and environmentally friendly forest products and accelerate commercialization of cellulosic nanomaterials.

In 2023, the USDA Forest Service and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities public-private partnership has awarded over $1,750,000 to cooperators in industry and academia for research projects to advance collaborative research and development of cellulosic nanomaterials. The funded projects support reductions in production costs and new market opportunities important for sustainability.

The Forest Products Laboratory also partnered with the Endowment and Resources for the Future to plan and organize Regional Industry Roundtables with private sector partners, local and state government, and cross industry sector representatives to identify critical barriers and opportunities to transport and utilize biomass removed from the high fire risk landscapes. The dialogue is ongoing and includes pursuing research needs and pilot projects to test innovative solutions to identified mutual needs.

Partnerships Across the Country

Photo Credit

USDA Forest Service photo.

Working with partners at the Bakers Place tall timber building in Madison, WI.

We work across the country with partners including:

• American Wood Council: Life cycle assessment database management research for wood products manufacturers;  technical advancement of wood engineering and construction.
• California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt: Productivity and cost of forest stewardship fuel reduction treatments.
• Georgia Institute of Technology: Chemical engineering and process development of nanocellulose and related wood-derived chemicals and materials.
• Michigan Technological University: Mass timber, finger jointing, hardwood, trailer decking.
• Mississippi State University: Analysis and characterization of biochar and lignin-based advanced materials; nondestructive evaluation of wood properties of fire-damaged hard pines.
• National Experienced Workforce Solutions, Inc.: Identifying treatment approaches for Wildfire Crisis Strategy landscapes.
• Oregon State University: Wood-based composites, TallWood Design Institute, mass timber, metals bioremediation.
• U.S. Department of Energy: Economics of forest biomass removals from wildfire prone landscapes in the United States; advanced supply chain engineering to support fuel treatment and forest restoration.
• U.S. Department of Defense: Replacement of tropical hardwoods with products from eastern hardwoods grown in sustainably managed forests, manufactured into engineered products by U.S. mills; working with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Armaments Center to evaluate additional species for wood pallet use.
• University of Maine: Design and development of nanocellulose and composited derived from wood to include the manufacture and testing of wood fibers and insulation associated with building sciences.
• University of Missouri: Advanced biochar and carbon materials derived from woody biomass for multifunctional applications.
• University of Wisconsin–Madison: Wood products durability and engineering, economics and life cycle assessments of wood products.
• Washington State University: Advanced supply chain engineering to support fuel treatment and forest restoration.
• Wood Products Council: Technical advancement of wood engineering and construction, life cycle inventories to instrumented cross laminated Timber burn tests, supporting the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) TallWood seismic testing in California.

Partner Map