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Sierra Pacific pledges $6 million to Oregon State University for advanced wood products lab

Civic leaders and consumers alike are demanding prioritizing the use of renewable and sustainable resources.

Advances in modern sustainable forestry practices have kicked off a flurry of conversation in the fields of manufacturing, energy production, and architecture among others for the use of innovative wood products.

A $6 million pledge to Oregon State University by California-based lumber company Sierra Pacific for the college’s new advanced wood products lab is a step that will bring a new generation of innovative wood products and technologies for the construction of tall buildings off the white board and into the marketplace.

From the Eugene Register-Guard:

California-based Sierra Pacific Industries, one of the largest lumber companies in the United States, has pledged $6 million to the College of Forestry at Oregon State University for its new advanced wood products laboratory. …

The university hopes to use the laboratory to establish Oregon as an international leader in the way wood is used in tall commercial and residential structures, which could have a major impact on the state’s economy, particularly the rural areas, OSU President Ed Ray said.

The lab will be used to develop products such as cross-laminated timber, engineered wood panels that have been in the news lately as a substitute for steel and concrete in high-rise buildings, OSU officials said. …

“Wood has become the building product of choice in a carbon-constrained­ world, and no other material can match it for sustainability and renewability,” [Sierra Pacific President — and OSU alum — George Emmerson] said. “Success requires constant innovation.” …

The Sierra Pacific pledge comes less than a month after Seattle-based Plum Creek, one of the largest private land and timber owners in the United States, made a $1 million pledge to the new complex.

 

Read more of the article at the Eugene Register-Guard >>