Turning Waste Wood into Workforce
🌲 Why This Event?
Every year, Washington produces 2.5 million board feet of wood... and with it comes millions of tons of low-value wood waste — like saw dust, chip, and cut ends — that too often gets left to rot or burned in the open air.
At the same time, our region faces workforce shortages in advanced manufacturing, clean tech, and industrial trades.
What if we could solve both of these problems by turning this waste wood of today into the clean energy jobs of tomorrow?
By converting waste wood into high-value carbon products, we can create good jobs, strengthen local supply chains, and unlock new opportunities for communities in Lewis County and across the BDO Zone Initiative in Washington State.
💡 What You’ll Learn
The Biomass Opportunity: How waste wood can be transformed into clean industrial inputs like biocarbon, BioTar, and wood vinegar.
Workforce Pathways: Programs and partnerships creating new careers in advanced manufacturing, materials science, and sustainable construction.
Regional Momentum: How Washington’s Buy Clean Buy Fair policies, USDA BioPreferred certification, and federal industrial policy are opening doors for local projects.
Community Impact: Why “turning waste wood into workforce” can be the cornerstone of a regenerative, resilient economy.
PLUS! You'll get a sneak peak at all of the technology we're using on site, and how that translates into more jobs in Onalaska.
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A BIG THANK YOU to our local partners and sponsors: