Washington DNR Chief Sees Value of CLT Manufacturing in Reducing Forest Waste

Washington’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Chief Hilary Franz toured Mercer’s mass timber facility in the Spokane Valley, Spokane Public Radio reported (10-12-23).

Since cross-laminated timber (CLT) products are made from smaller trees than those normally used in lumber manufacturing, it could help reduce forest waste. “We never had someone who could buy that small diameter before, and we couldn’t sell it, and when you can’t sell it, it either rots on the forest floor, or get burned and creates an environmental challenge for us,” Franz told Spokane Public Radio.

Mercer also said that it has teamed up with design partner Green Canopy Node to build a 3-story prototype townhouse on their site.

Darien Griechen of Green Canopy says they are developing a mass timber residential building system. He says the are advantage to using the CLT product in this type of pre-fabricated home. “What we’re trying to do is eek out efficiencies in every element of the process from the factory to the field, so we can build more efficiently and significantly faster.”