The ability to have a training facility that can convert logs to finished lumber and more broadly provide opportunities to evaluate an untreated stand of trees and work through the process of…

The Department of Agriculture Forest Service R9-Eastern Region awarded the University of New Hampshire $490,323 on December 8, 2025, under the Wood Utilization Assistance program (CFDA 10.674) to install a dry kiln and sawmill planer at the University of New Hampshire Forestry Field Activity Center Sawmill.

The project establishes a training facility enabling conversion of logs to finished lumber and evaluation of untreated timber stands through marking and processing to finished product. The sawmill serves as an active wood processing facility and training center for secondary school students, post-secondary forestry students, forest industry professionals, and adjacent professionals in architecture, engineering, construction, and development.

Work is performed in New Hampshire with a completion date of June 30, 2028. The recipient is the University of New Hampshire, a division of the University System of New Hampshire, a 1862 land-grant research institution. The Wood Innovations Grants Program supports U.S. wood products and wood energy markets to advance long-term management of National Forest System and other forest lands, with focus areas including mass timber, renewable wood energy, and technological development supporting hazardous fuel reduction and sustainable forest management.

The ability to have a training facility that can convert logs to finished lumber and more broadly provide opportunities to evaluate an untreated stand of trees and work through the process of marking trees and bringing them to finished product. This project will install a dry kiln and a sawmill planer at the university of new hampshire forestry field activity center sawmill. The university of new hampshire sawmill is a training center and active wood processing facility where secondary school students, post secondary forestry students, forest industry professionals, and forest industry adjacent such as architects, engineers, construction, developers professionals participate in, and learn about primary wood processing.