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    "extracted_at": "2025-07-20T12:29:28.648655Z",
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    "description": "\u201cMade in the USA: Supporting American manufacturing jobs and promoting sustainable forest management\u201d",
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    "parsed_content": "Stoking Success | US Forest Service\nSkip to main content\nOfficial websites use .gov\nA .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.\nSecure .gov websites use HTTPS\nA lock (\nLockA locked padlock\n) or https:\/\/ means you\u2019ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.\nStoking Success\nRebuilt biomass boiler system is a win for American jobs and healthy forests\nOffice of Communication\nApril 10, 2025\n\u201cMade in the USA: Supporting American manufacturing jobs and promoting sustainable forest management\u201d \u2014a series that spotlights how Wood Innovations Program grant recipients are putting Americans to work and ensuring healthy forests of the future. \nThis article was developed in collaboration with Matt Bonsall of Wood and Co. \nJackson Paper Manufacturing in North Carolina takes leftover wood material from local wood product manufactures and turns it into energy, a win for the local economy and for the health of local forests. (USDA Forest Service photo by Marcus Taylor)\nThe Jackson Paper Manufacturing mill in Sylva, North Carolina faced a stark choice: invest in overhauling their 40-year-old boiler that burns biomass or convert their aging system to natural gas.\nIt was a hard choice for managers. Converting to natural gas was cheaper than overhauling the old boiler system and continuing to rely on wood fuel. However, shutting down the biomass boiler would jeopardize hundreds of local jobs, like the truckers who haul chips and even jobs at other local wood products mills.\nThe Forest Service\u2019s Wood Innovations Program\u2014which provides competitive grants to foster innovation in the wood products sector and supports markets for wood products and wood energy across the country\u2014was able to step up to help Jackson Paper Manufacturing cover the cost of keeping their biomass boiler system running.\nThanks in part to that support, the mill was able to secure American jobs and strengthen the local wood products economy.\n\u201cWe decided to install new controls and continue to use biomass with the cost difference covered by a Forest Service Community Wood grant,\u201d said Carr Tyndall, president of Jackson Paper Manufacturing. \u201cWe will continue to purchase over 80,000 tons of biomass each year for boiler fuel, which makes the economics much better for the wood products businesses in our region.\u201d\nJackson Paper makes 100 percent recycled containerboard. It uses old, corrugated containers from recycling centers that source from places like local grocery store chains. The corrugated containers are fed into a large blender, called a pulper, which mixes them with water to form the pulp to make paper. (USDA Forest Service photo by Marcus Taylor)\nAn interconnected wood products economy\nForest products are a fundamental building block of the U.S. economy: the industry generates nearly $300 billion annually and accounts for approximately four percent of the total U.S. manufacturing gross domestic product. Forest products are among the top ten manufacturing sector employers in 45 states, and the Jackson Paper Manufacturing mill is a prime example of what that looks like on the ground.\nWhat makes the Jackson Paper Manufacturing mill so important is that it sources the fuel for the boiler system from local mills. They buy leftover material from the wood products manufacturing process like wood chips, sawdust, and other odds and ends. The paper mill turns this material into energy that powers the manufacturing process.\nIn 2023, keeping the Sylva-based mill\u2019s biomass boiler running became even more important when a major pulp and paper mill in the region shuttered. Suddenly, Jackson Paper Manufacturing became the only remaining customer for about 30 wood product manufacturers in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and upstate South Carolina in the market for low value biomass leftover from the manufacturing process.\n\u201cFacilities like Jackson Paper Manufacturing are key piece of the puzzle for the local wood products economy and for forest management more broadly,\u201d said Marcus Taylor, wood innovations coordinator for the Forest Service\u2019s Southern Region. \u201cThe ability for regional mills to sell this material to Jackson Paper Manufacturing instead of paying to send their biomass to the landfill improves the economics of the manufacturing process and helps keep regional wood products manufacturers in business. This in turn keeps loggers working in the woods doing very important forest management activities on public and private lands.\u201d\nJackson Paper Manufacturing employs local people, like Josh Carnes, assistant production and quality manager. (USDA Forest Service photo by Marcus Taylor)\nImproving efficiency, reliability and competitiveness\nJackson Paper produces 100% recycled containerboard. The process starts with bales of old corrugated containers from recycling centers that source from places like local grocery store chains. The corrugated containers are fed into a large blender, called a pulper, which mixes them with water to form pulp. Contaminants, such as dirt, staples, tape, plastic, and adhesives, are removed to yield a clean pulp, which is processed into high-quality recycled paper.\nThe upgraded biomass boiler is improving the efficiency of the system. Thanks in part to the Forest Service grant, the mill installed a programmable logic controller system, which reduces the air going through the boiler and ensures less energy is wasted on heating excess air. Because of the upgrade, the mill can stick to burning biomass, a more sustainable fuel with a more stable price tag, than other alternatives. The more efficient system also means the system produces more energy for the same amount of fuel.\nThe overhaul is also helping the mill compete in the industry. It is giving the operators much better troubleshooting tools. These tools are not only more accurate, but they are safer because operators are interacting with the programmable logic controller system and not directly with the boiler\u2019s mechanical systems.\n\u201cThe boiler upgrade has also improved reliability by replacing the boiler\u2019s north wall, as well as replacing damaged generating tubes and inlet air preheating tubes. These changes will reduce tube failures and result in less downtime for the boiler,\u201d said Josh Carnes, assistant production and quality manager at Jackson Paper Manufacturing.\nA sonic soot blower was also installed as part of the upgrade. The sonic soot blower prevents ash and particulates from building up. It uses high-energy, low-frequency sound waves that debond particulates. Sonic soot blowers eliminate concerns about corrosion, erosion, and mechanical damage and do not produce effluents.\nThe wood fuel that supports the biomass boiler and the wood that supports the papermill are harvested from the forest as part of commercial thinning, a process that allows loggers to remove specific trees to both improve forest health and use the harvested wood to manufacture valuable products. (USDA Forest Service video)\nFor more information about how the Forest Service is supporting American jobs and sustainable forest management, visit Wood Innovations Program webpage.\nRead Next\nWood is good\nInnovation and Science\nMaking the cut\nTribal Relations and Partnerships\nProducing opportunity\nRecreation and Benefits\nStudy shows wood products markets reel long after hurricanes subside\nInnovation and Science",
    "ai_headline": "Stoking Success",
    "ai_simplified_title": "US Forest Service Supports Biomass Boiler Upgrade for Jobs and Forests",
    "ai_excerpt": "The US Forest Service's Wood Innovations Program helped Jackson Paper Manufacturing in North Carolina upgrade its biomass boiler, securing jobs and supporting the local wood products economy. The mill uses recycled materials and the boiler runs on leftover wood, contributing to sustainable forest management. The upgrade improves efficiency and reliability.",
    "ai_subject_tags": [
        "Forestry",
        "Wood Products",
        "Biomass",
        "Sustainability",
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        "Economy",
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        "US Forest Service"
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