The U.S. Department of Agriculture has guaranteed $115.2 million in loans through the Timber Production Expansion Guaranteed Loan Program to support sawmills and wood processing facilities that will establish, reopen, expand, or improve operations across eight U.S. states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The funding will support projects in California, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The program provides loan guarantees to qualified lenders whose borrowers operate facilities that process timber and other forest restoration byproducts from National Forest System lands.

One project includes a $12.3 million loan to Beachcombers, LLC in Oklahoma to acquire two Teal-Jones yellow southern pine sawmills located in Antlers, Oklahoma, and Liberty, Mississippi. The first phase will restore the Antlers facility to full operation with projected annual production of 80 million board feet. The Antlers mill has a production capacity of 130 million board feet. The second phase will bring the Liberty mill back online, with a production capacity of 25 million board feet.

Another project includes an $800 thousand loan to Timber Professionals Cooperative Enterprises in Shawano County, Wisconsin. The funding will support reopening a sawmill and purchasing more than 49 acres of real estate and equipment. The equipment will increase efficiency in manufacturing wood chips and expand the site's capability to produce higher-value wood products from the same raw materials.

The project in Wisconsin will create six jobs, with additional staff planned as operations expand. The program is administered through a partnership between USDA Rural Development and the U.S. Forest Service and provides financing support for facilities that process timber removed from national forests as part of ecosystem restoration activities.