Growing Through Challenge: American Hardwood Industry

The economic picture for hardwood is challenging, and every part of the industry feels it. Every saw-mill, concentration yard, and distributor is asking the same question: do we grow, scale back, or hold the line? NHLA faces that same reality.

I have now been in this role for four years. During that time, we have grown revenue by nearly $1 million per year, but revenue growth alone has not solved our long-term financial position. As mills continue to close, our membership base shrinks, and the financial pressure on the Association grows. As your margins get tighter, so does our responsibility to be careful with every dollar NHLA spends.

That naturally raises the question: if the industry is under pressure, why are we investing more instead of less?

Because this is not the time to retreat. It is time to position the hardwood industry for its next chapter.

First, the Crossroads Strategies initiative, which focuses on planning and executing comprehensive government relations and advocacy campaigns, is a game-changer for NHLA. Advocacy has always been one of our highest priorities, and for years the Hardwood Federation has played a critical role in representing our interests in Washington, leading federal advocacy efforts, building relationships with policy-makers, and ensuring the hardwood industry’s voice is heard on key legislative and regulatory issues. Their work remains important, and our goal is not to replace it. Our goal is to complement it.

The creation of the NHLA CRS Task Force to support Crossroad Strategies’ initiatives marks a turning point. It gives NHLA a way to take on issues that directly impact our members, move the needle in a specific area, and have a stronger voice in Washington, D.C. I have heard some ask whether one hardwood voice in D.C. is enough. The simple answer is no. That is why there is more than one softwood, forestry, and building products association with a presence in Washington. If we want solid American hardwood to be considered, specified, and purchased, we have to be in the room.

The goal of the NHLA CRS Task Force is clear:

A sustained commitment by U.S. government agencies to procure American-grown, harvested, processed, and manufactured solid hardwood products, strengthening domestic manufacturing, sup-porting working forests, and reducing reliance on imported and substitute materials across residential, commercial, and infrastructure applications.

That is a big goal, but it is also a necessary one. We need to help federal and state governments understand that future purchasing decisions should include solid hardwood. We need them to under-stand that when solid wood is compared with imported products or non-wood substitutes, American hardwood should not be excluded from the conversation. Non-wood products should not automatically replace wood. Foreign-processed alternatives should not be treated as the default.

The next step is to turn this goal into a specific direction, with clear objectives and actions. If we can do that, we can help increase domestic demand and create new opportunities for the hardwood economy.

Second, Wood Innovation Grants enable us to extend your invest-ment. The U.S. Forest Service is matching NHLA’s promotional efforts for design professionals dollar-for-dollar, and NHLA is carrying out that promotion through the Real American Hardwood Coalition. That is a win for NHLA, a win for Real American Hard-wood®, and a win for the entire hardwood industry.

Through this work, we have already invested more than $1 million in promotion, trade shows, content, and publications designed to help architects, designers, builders, and other professionals use more hardwood. Now, that effort is expanding into a more regional, direct approach. We are focusing on three key regions: the Midwest, the Northeast, and the Southeast. We are working to hire staff who can meet directly with design firms in those regions and discuss hard-wood, specifications, and product choices.

That direct contact matters. We have an opportunity to talk with firms about their use of substitute products and help them under-stand that “fake wood” is not the same as real hardwood. It does not carry the same story, the same environmental value, or the same long-term reputation. Real American Hardwood® can win this prod-uct battle because we have a good story to tell. We just have to tell it clearly, consistently, and directly to the people making decisions.

These grants are also being used to improve production. They are funding 75 percent of NHLA Yield Studies conducted by our National Inspectors, helping mills improve log recovery, grading, trimmer yield, and edger yield. That means better efficiency and, ultimately, better profitability for our members.

The grants are also expanding NHLA’s work with AI grading. Our National Inspectors are annotating defects for six different AI grad-ing equipment manufacturers to help improve performance and optimization. Over time, this work will help NHLA better understand how grading technology is developing and how the grading rules can continue to serve the industry alongside new tools and systems.

Grant funding is also helping us explore commercialization and development in structural hardwoods, thermal modification, profiled hardwood decking, and other nontraditional markets. These are not distractions from our core industry. They are potential growth areas that can help create new demand for hardwood products.

All of these programs take money. We count on your dues to help fund them. At the same time, NHLA board members and others have stepped up to raise additional funds to support the Crossroads Strategies initiative. These investments are fundamental to NHLA’s efforts to regain market share in appearance-grade products and expand into new markets.

So yes, we are on common ground when it comes to the economic reality facing the hardwood industry. The challenges are real. The pressure is real. The losses are real.

But so is the opportunity.

We have chosen to focus on growth because the alternative is to simply manage decline. That is not good enough for this industry, and it is not good enough for NHLA. Our responsibility is to fight for solid American hardwood, support our members, create new demand, and make sure this industry has a stronger future than the one we are facing today.

Dallin Brooks

NHLA Executive Director