ALASKA—Have you ever been to Hoonah, Ketchikan, Nenana, Tenakee Springs, Kasilof, or Anchorage, Alaska?

Apart from Anchorage and its more than 290,000 residents, the populations of these other communities are small, ranging from 8,230 people in Ketchikan, to 525 in Kasilof, to 121 in Tenakee Springs.

Most are small, rural communities that are familiar with finding creative ways to capitalize on local natural resources—including wood from the forests.

That resourcefulness is paying off for six organizations. USDA recently awarded them about $2 million in federal grants for their innovative projects that further develop wood energy to help with sustainable heat and wood product processing ideas.

• Icy Straits Lumber and Milling, Inc. from Hoonah will use a $100,000 grant for its Forest to Furniture project.
• Ketchikan’s Southeast Conference Organization plans to use its more than $900,000 award for the state’s first small scale pellet mill.
• The city of Nenana will put its more than $680,000 in funding into a Biomass District Heat System.
• Second Growth Homes LLC out of Tenakee Springs is launching biomass processing with its awarded $65,000.
• Anchorage’s Alaska Energy Authority plans to invest its $112,500 for a Biomass System Training and Audit Project, and 
• Ionia, Inc., based in Kasilof, will fund its Ionia Village Heat and Home Project with its more than $96,000 grant. 

These grants are awarded annually and help increase the use of local wood products while working toward creating sustainable energy solutions for communities. The Alaska Region collaborates closely with these communities to ensure the innovative projects are imagined, developed, funded and implemented.