This wood products infrastructure assistance project provides modernization to an existing mill

On August 11, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, awarded Routt Millworks LLC a $200,000 Project Grant under the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act Financial Assistance to Facilities that Purchase and Process Byproducts for Ecosystem Restoration program (CFDA 10.725). The grant supports modernization of the awardee's existing sawmill facility to increase production capacity, enhance workplace safety standards, and enable viable processing of wood byproducts generated from federal land restoration projects in Colorado. This modernization will create a critical commercial market for restoration byproducts in an area with limited processing options, thereby reducing vegetation removal costs for ecosystem restoration activities on federal lands while supporting sustainable forest management and rural economic development.

The project has an anticipated completion date of July 1, 2028, with grant activities expected to be completed within the five-year performance period required under the program. The awardee must maintain quarterly financial reports and progress documentation demonstrating quantified project outcomes, including production increases and economic benefits resulting from the mill's enhanced capacity to process byproducts from timber sales and forest management activities in high-priority ecological restoration areas.

This modernization will increase production capacity and enhance safety standards. The improved production of the sawmill will create a viable option for the utilization of wood byproduct generated from restoration projects on federal land in an area where there currently are very few options available.