Mass Timber Gets TV Spotlight

The Oregon Mass Timber Coalition is backed by a $41.4 million federal grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration's Build Back Better Regional Challenge. The coalition includes partners like the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, the Port of Portland, and various state agencies. This investment aims to revitalize Oregon's legacy timber industry. While the forestry and wood products sector contributes over $18.1 billion in economic output, its share of the state's private-sector output shrank from 10.5% in 1980 to just 1.0% in 2020. A primary goal is to tackle Oregon's acute housing shortage by using mass timber for prefabricated, modular homes. The state needs an estimated 40,000 new homes each year to meet current demand. The initiative also focuses on improving forest health to mitigate the increasing threat of wildfires. A signature project is the development of a mass timber and housing innovation campus at the Port of Portland's Terminal 2. This will include a factory dedicated to producing modular mass timber housing components, aiming to streamline construction and lower costs. Mass timber products, like cross-laminated timber (CLT), are engineered by layering and bonding wood to create structural components that can replace steel and concrete. Because these components can be prefabricated, construction time can be reduced by as much as 25% compared to traditional methods. Contrary to common perception, mass timber performs well in fires. The thick panels are designed so that the outer layer chars during a fire, forming a protective, insulating barrier that shields the structural wood underneath. The use of mass timber is growing nationwide, with over 2,500 mass timber buildings already constructed in the United States. The television segment featuring the coalition was filmed in Oregon's Willamette Valley and North Portland to document the entire supply chain, from sustainable forestry to high-tech manufacturing.