Press Release

U.S. Department of Commerce Invests $6 Million to Establish Wood Innovation Center in Darrington, Washington

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $6 million grant to the town of Darrington, Washington, to acquire land and provide infrastructure needed to establish the Darrington Wood Innovation Center. This EDA grant, to be matched with $1.7 million in state investment, is expected to create 156 jobs and generate $22 million in private investment.

“The Economic Development Administration is committed to helping communities in Washington rebound from natural disasters,” said Dennis Alvord, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. “The Darrington Wood Innovation Center will help to strengthen the region’s economy by serving as a hub for wood fiber-based manufacturing companies working on next-generation technologies in the forest products industry.”

“The Darrington Wood Innovation Center will transform this rural community into an innovation hub, developing sustainable, low-carbon cross-laminated timber (CLT) and investing in training a skilled workforce,” said Governor Jay Inslee. “These funds will allow the Center to break ground later this year, paving the region’s way to economic development and security.”

“This $6 million federal grant is an important investment in the economies of Darrington and Snohomish County after the devastation of the Oso landslide seven years ago,” said Senator Maria Cantwell. “The Darrington Wood Innovation Center would be the first of its kind in the United States, creating a campus where environmentally-friendly building materials, like cross-laminated timber, will be produced and where people will come to research and learn about these state-of-the-art wood products and how these products can be used to build next-generation, safe, and sustainable buildings. I am proud to have worked with Mayor Rankin and the community to support this project, which will create timber industry jobs in rural Snohomish County, and I will continue working to support Washington’s innovative mass timber industry.”

This project is funded by the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (Pub. L. 116-20) (PDF), which provided EDA with $600 million in additional Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) Program (PDF) Program funds for disaster relief and recovery for areas affected by Hurricanes Florence, Michael, and Lane, Typhoons Yutu and Mangkhut, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, and other major natural disasters occurring in calendar year 2018, and tornadoes and floods occurring in calendar year 2019, under the Robert T. Stafford Act. Please visit EDA’s Disaster Supplemental webpage for more information.

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)
The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.