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North Fork Lumber in Goshen is among the recipients of more than $93 million in grant money from the United States Forest Service. The company plans to use funds for expanding production capacity of the mill.
The recipients of the grants were announced earlier this month, with North Fork Lumber being awarded $945,254 through the Forest Service’s Community Wood Grant Program.
The program, which was launched in 2020, provides funding for grants “to install thermally led community wood energy systems or to build innovative wood product manufacturing systems,” according to the Forest Service website. The program places particular emphasis on “assisting sawmills in economically challenged areas to retool or add advanced technology.” The money coming to North Fork will be used to install biomass fueled kilns and upgrade some of the sawmill’s equipment. The kilns will allow North Fork to dry the wood they mill on site, which will “give us a lot of opportunity for flexibility,” said Lee Harris, vice president of North Fork Lumber.
The kilns are fueled by biomass - the leftovers of the milling process (wood chips, sawdust, etc.). Drying its own lumber will allow North Fork the ability to take the product directly to the market.
“It gives us the opportunity to create specialty lumbers for the local construction market,” Harris said. “North Fork will be able to offer a less expensive, higher quality product than what is available at big box stores.”
The Forest Service funds will cover 40 percent of the overall project, and Harris plans to use the grant money specifically to help install the kilns and a boiler. The remaining 60 percent of the project, a little over $1.4 million, will be provided by North Fork and will be used for the equipment upgrades. The mill will upgrade several components of the circular saw headrig used to cut the logs into lumber, and plans to install a second headrig assembly to allow it to increase output. The mill last updated its equipment in 2009.
“It was state-of-the-art back then, but it’s been used every day for 14 years,” Harris said.
In addition to being able to provide materials for local construction projects, Harris noted that the expansion of the mill will result in additional employment opportunities becoming available, as well as an increase in tax revenues.
North Fork will receive the grant funding in September of this year and Harris said he plans to break ground on construction for the kilns in October. He estimates the entire project will take around two-and-a-half years to complete.
