The assessment for the Softwood Lumber Checkoff rose from 35 cents to 41 cents per thousand board feet, effective April 1. The program, administered by the Softwood Lumber Board with oversight from the USDA, collects the fee from U.S. sawmills and importers and spends it on projects that grow demand for softwood lumber inside the United States. The increase was approved so the program can build on its record of maintaining and expanding markets, and the added revenue targets gaps in existing programs.
Checkoff programs follow a common structure: an industry-approved assessment on every unit sold, collected at the point of first sale, and spent by a board under federal oversight. The softwood program applies the assessment to the first sale of softwood lumber in the U.S., whether the material comes from a domestic sawmill or arrives through an importer. At 41 cents per thousand board feet, the charge stays a small line item on a lumber invoice, but across the volume the industry ships each year, it funds a national program.
Assessment carries two meanings in construction. One is a fee like the checkoff; the other is a technical evaluation. Lumber’s environmental story sits at the intersection, and the environmental impact assessment of construction projects frequently compares wood framing against steel and concrete on embodied carbon, construction waste, and end-of-life options. Those comparisons drive the demand the checkoff exists to protect.
What the Checkoff Assessment Funds
The additional funds let the program strengthen existing work and close gaps that limited its ability to protect current markets and grow share. The spending plan has four priorities.
The Four Funding Priorities
- Core market programs that defend market share against competitor campaigns and recapture share of voice
- A wood education program aimed at post-secondary architecture and engineering students and young professionals
- Trade training for general contractors and installers, focused on mass timber and lumber-based building systems
- Applied technical research, innovation, and early-adopter programs that pull in public and private funding
Trade training matters to safety as much as skills. Contractor and installer programs address training gaps, and the same crews apply hazard identification and risk assessment on every job. The safety principles taught in these programs give the training a structure that carries from classroom to site.
The market defense line matters because lumber competes against substitute materials that advertise aggressively. Share of voice measures how much industry messaging reaches specifiers compared with competitors, and the checkoff spends to keep wood’s share from shrinking when rival campaigns ramp up.
The education program reaches students before they form material preferences. Curricula cover wood’s structural properties, environmental profile, and design potential, so a graduate who specifies steel out of habit can weigh wood on the merits. The same curriculum continues through continuing education, so the program keeps working after graduation.
The Return on the Assessment
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Assessment rate | 35 to 41 cents per thousand board feet |
| Demand generated since inception | Over 7.5 billion board feet |
| Average return | $25.22 for every $1 spent |
| Oversight | USDA, with the Softwood Lumber Board administering |
For crews and contractors, the connection between the fee and the training runs through construction safety principles of hazard identification, risk assessment, safety management systems, and accident prevention, which the expanded programs put in front of more installers each year.
Seismic and Structural Assessment of Wood Buildings
The education program targets architecture and engineering students because design decisions happen early. When a student learns mass timber’s structural range, that knowledge shows up in later specifications and details.
Structural assessment matters most in high-risk regions. Seismic vulnerability assessments of school buildings rank existing structures by expected performance, and wood-frame and mass timber systems meet the ductility and energy-dissipation demands of modern codes when the lateral system is detailed correctly.
Mass timber spans several products: cross-laminated timber panels, glued laminated timber beams, and nail-laminated decks. Each has its own span and load characteristics, and research support helps design teams compare systems early in schematic design, when the structural choice still shapes the budget.
Full-scale shake table tests on wood-frame and mass timber buildings have shown the systems surviving simulated earthquakes that exceed design code levels. The tests give engineers data on drift, connection performance, and damage patterns that no computer model alone provides.
Mass Timber Systems
Mass timber panels and beams carry floor and roof loads while exposed, which cuts finishing cost and speeds erection. Early-adopter programs in the checkoff portfolio help first projects clear the learning curve, and the research dollars target connection details, fire performance, and long-span layouts.
Lateral Load Paths
An assessment checks the full load path: diaphragm to wall, wall to foundation, and every connection between. Gaps at any link change the building’s seismic response, so the review covers hardware, anchors, and panel joints, not just the gravity framing.
Water Resource Assessment Across the Supply Chain
Softwood comes from working forests, and forest management shapes water resources at the watershed scale. Hydrology principles, the hydrologic cycle, watershed analysis, and water resource assessment underpin the sustainability story the checkoff markets to specifiers and owners.
Watershed Considerations in Timber Sourcing
Harvest practices that protect stream buffers and maintain ground cover keep sediment out of waterways. Buyers who track sourcing can point to watershed outcomes the way they point to certification, and water resource assessment data supports both claims. The same hydrologic data feeds road drainage design, wetland permitting, and post-harvest monitoring on the land.
Stream buffers of 50 to 100 feet are common on managed timberland, and best management practices for road crossings keep sediment and fuel out of the water. Water quality monitoring before and after harvest documents the effect, giving mills verifiable numbers for sustainability claims.
Forests managed under long rotations produce cleaner water than many land uses, because the canopy and forest floor slow rainfall and filter runoff. That hydrologic function is part of the value timberland owners deliver, and it shows up in the watershed numbers the industry cites.
Soil Investigation and Subsurface Assessment
Wood buildings still need foundations, and foundations start with the ground. Soil investigation, subsurface exploration, and site assessment for foundation design determine bearing capacity, settlement, and groundwater levels before a single footing is formed.
When Subsurface Exploration Pays Off
Boring and test pits cost a fraction of a failed foundation. On sites with fill, high water tables, or suspect bearing soils, the investigation findings change footing sizes, slab design, and drainage details. Standard penetration tests and cone penetration tests give engineers the numbers they need, and the report stays on file for the life of the building.
A typical investigation moves through desktop review, field reconnaissance, and subsurface testing. The desktop phase maps geology and prior uses; field work confirms surface conditions; borings and test pits sample the soil at depth. The result is a geotechnical report that states allowable bearing pressure and settlement estimates.
Site Assessment for Renewable Energy
Mills and distribution facilities are adding solar, and the site assessment for a photovoltaic system covers roof condition, orientation, shading, and code requirements before panels are specified. The same assessment discipline the checkoff supports in research applies on the ground.
What a PV Site Assessment Covers
Structural capacity of the roof or racking area, solar access across the year, interconnection limits, and local permit requirements. The report feeds the system design, so a weak assessment produces a weak array. Ground-mounted systems add a soil and drainage review that echoes the foundation work on the main building, and interconnection studies often take longer than the physical installation.
Roof-mounted arrays on mill buildings reuse an asset that already exists, while ground arrays compete with other uses for cleared land. The assessment should also flag roof age: a roof that will need replacement inside the array’s 25-year service life should be replaced first, or the panels get pulled and reinstalled at extra cost.
Site Preparation, Clearing, and Quality Control
The money the checkoff raises funds the research and training that shape how projects are built, and the first step of building is preparing the ground. Site preparation assessment, clearing, grading, and quality control close the loop between program funding and field practice.
The Site Preparation Sequence
- Survey the property lines and set benchmarks
- Clear vegetation and strip topsoil
- Grade for drainage and compaction
- Verify subgrade with density tests
- Install erosion and sediment controls before wet weather
Quality control starts during grading, not after. Density tests and grade checks during preparation prevent settlement and drainage problems that surface years later. Silt fences, check dams, and stabilized construction entrances keep sediment on site, and local permits usually require a stormwater pollution prevention plan before clearing starts.
The assessment documents from each phase become part of the record for owners, lenders, and inspectors. Site photos, test reports, and as-built grades answer questions years later when a settlement crack or drainage complaint appears.