USFS Grant Season 2025-2026: Unprecedented Interest
by Roy Anderson, The Beck Group Consulting
Service Spotlight: Grant Writing Assistance
The awards are in, and we at The Beck Group Consulting are pleased with our clients’ overall success during this cycle. There were about 600 applications for $105 million. Of the 17 client companies BECK assisted with grant applications, nine received at least one award, and several received two or even three. Overall, our clients received nearly $17.7 million in funding. All but two of the eight that didn’t receive funding in this cycle had received funding with BECK assistance in prior grant cycles.
That success came in an exceptionally competitive year. At the Markets Matter Convening, USFS leadership told attendees that the agency had received 600+ applications across its Wood Innovations Program offerings, which is reportedly the highest number received in the history of the program.
Given those numbers, in our view, there was simply not enough funding available for every worthy project. Some very good applications went unfunded, not necessarily because of fundamental problems with the project, but rather because the USFS had to choose among many strong proposals, which is important context when looking back on this cycle’s results.
What was the secret sauce? There is no single ingredient. However, for the funded projects it undoubtedly began with a compelling narrative aligning with the USFS’s objectives. For this season, two themes emerged:
1. Finding productive uses for mill residuals that have lost their traditional markets, and
2. Creating additional markets for restoration treatment timber and other low-value material.
That said, we assisted on some very compelling narratives that were not funded. Why not?
A Good Project Isn’t Enough
Scale and impact matter—All else being equal, a project that can create a large new market for restoration timber or mill residuals is likely to have a more compelling story than one with relatively modest impacts. Applicants should quantify the scale: How many additional tons or board feet will be utilized? How many acres of treatment could it support? How many jobs will be created or retained? Bigger isn’t automatically better, but the ability to demonstrate substantial, measurable impacts matters.
The priorities differed between the three grant types—For example, use of USFS timber seemed to be key for WPIA applications. WPIA was the only type of grant that did not require matching contributions, and surely the USFS was alert for applications that chose this grant type mainly because the applicant wanted to avoid having to kick in, even if the application might have succeeded had it been a WIG or a CWG.
USFS priorities play a role in determining outcome—As previously mentioned, projects utilizing mill residuals seemed to do well this year. We encourage applicants to work with local grant coordinators to help align their projects with USFS priorities.
Past grant performance matters—Applicants with prior grant awards should be able to show that those investments produced tangible results. The USFS always likes to hear that an applicant has put past grant funding to good use. If they do not see results, that doesn’t help the application.
Location matters—In some places, the applicant is literally the only practical destination for Federal restoration treatment timber. That can make the importance of a project in that area easier to demonstrate. Where this was not the case, odds got longer.
A shotgun approach can work against you—Submitting four, five, or even more marginal applications in hopes that one succeeds is not necessarily better than submitting two exceptionally well-developed applications. Grant reviewers must distinguish among hundreds of projects. Focus matters.
Details matter—Were there enough letters of support? Enough documentation on engineering and equipment, with quotations? Enough demonstration of community outreach to share the success story? Enough nitty-gritty details to convince the USFS one knows what one is doing?
It’s always good to hear what the top person has to say. At the USFS that’s Tom Schultz, and here’s what he said in the press release:
“The greatest threat to forest landowners and those who use forests is the lack of critical markets in today’s timber and wood products industries. There are significant gaps where low-value wood, small diameter trees and restoration byproducts lack viable buyers.
To close these gaps, we are investing in companies and organizations that are developing technologies, products, business models and training to expand and strengthen markets directly connected to forest restoration. Over time, this will help create new uses for underused materials, strengthen rural economies, improve forest health, and make forest management more financially sustainable.”
We concur, and we think this will be reassuring to many in the industry who are wondering where they’re going to put all the residuals.
Start Preparing Now for the Next Grant Cycle
The best way is to look at past grant options and hope they continue to be offered, then:
Plan the project—Start now, not later. Decide first what you want and show that you can pay for the parts of it you would have to cover.
Research USFS priorities—These differ for each type of grant, and are typically explained in videos from the USFS Wood Innovation website. This year, it was evident that the USFS had recognized the lack of markets for mill residuals as a major industry issue. That might explain why nearly all the cogeneration projects our clients applied for were funded.
Build relationships with your support network—Talk to your local USFS Wood Innovation contacts. Look at your region’s markets: What do they want that you would like the ability to supply? Line up financing for the part not covered by grants. Start a support list—elected officials, bankers, customers, vendors, elected officials, Tribal councils, USFS managers—everyone willing to write you a letter, or use a template to do so.
Ask your elected officials to recommend approval. They would usually like for you to think well of them and they can play a role in supporting projects. Here in Oregon, we are seeing signs that our U.S. senators feel that they played important parts in helping eastern Oregon mills obtain grants, so we imagine other states’ Congresspeople would also like to be able to bask in the glow of good outcomes.
Get SAM.gov squared away—Register with SAM.gov. No one thinks it’s easy, but it’s a hard stop if you don’t. While you’re at it, best register with grants.gov.
Gather data—The USFS programs are designed to accomplish measurable objectives. Start quantifying what your project will do: acres treated, volume harvested, jobs created or retained, new markets created, and more.
Think about outreach—This is one of the most frequently overlooked parts of an application. In other words, be able to describe: If the project works, how will you publicize it?
Size matters—If you’re not one of the big guys, the question to ask yourself is how your organization can have an outsize impact on timber and biomass utilization. A rural location with no other outlets around the region isn’t an automatic winner just for being itself; it will need a compelling narrative proposing improvements from a utilization standpoint.
Be realistic—you are not going to get eight grants, as the USFS likes to help as many businesses as they can.
Assume Tough Competition—Our own results this year illustrate the point. Even among applications developed with substantial professional assistance, fewer than half were funded. Strong projects did not make the cut. That is why preparation matters.
At The Beck Group Consulting, we help forest products companies and organizations evaluate potential projects, build the economic and wood supply case behind them, develop grant narratives, coordinate supporting documentation and letters, and work through the Federal submission process. If you’re considering a project that might fit a future USFS funding opportunity, the best time to begin preparing is before the grant announcement appears. Grant season gets busy quickly, and our capacity is limited. Clients who begin preparing early give themselves—and us—much more opportunity to develop a strong application rather than scrambling after a funding announcement appears.
But ahead of time you can email info@beckgroupconsulting.com, use the contact form on this website, or even just pick up the phone and dial 503-684-3406. A real person answers our phone, and he can answer some of your questions and refer you to the right person to handle the rest. And if you decide that’s a yes, we’ll keep that commitment and offer you the best support possible from drafting statements to rounding up support letters to walking you through the submission process on grants.gov.
Your grant season will go from a frenetic struggle to a well-planned process.
The Beck Group, Inc.
Forest Products Planning and Consulting Services
Telephone (503) 684-3406
Email: info@beckgroupconsulting.com