Building California’s Disaster-Resilient Materials Economy
An AI image generation of our vision for the ISO/IEC 17025 accredited testing and certification laboratory.
Forest WRX Alliance has developed a three-project plan that would create California’s first integrated disaster-resilient bioeconomy system. The complete plan would address a variety of needs felt by the state of California, including wildfire prevention, post-disaster reconstruction, climate resilience, and rural economic revitalization. Our plan would successfully tackle three objectives:
Establish Accredited Certification Infrastructure Enabling Industry Growth
Create Good Paying Jobs with Accessible Pathways in Disinvested Communities
Advance Climate Resilience Through Biomass Utilization and Fire-Resistant Materials
The first project, and the subject of this blog post, would establish Northern California’s first ISO/IEC 17025 accredited testing and certification laboratory for disaster-resilient building materials. In partnership with Cal Poly Humboldt, UC Berkeley Disaster Lab, and Mad River Mass Timber, the proposed testing and certification laboratory represents vital infrastructure that will enable quicker certification, lowering the current timeline of 6-8 months down to 2-6 weeks for California-based manufacturers utilizing forest fiber sourced in California. Prioritizing California manufacturers would create a competitive advantage attracting investment. The collaboration with the university unlocks the capabilities of its new polytechnic engineering programs and opportunities for students including paid internships, research assistantships, and capstone projects. There are no other certified building materials labs in California that have an academic partner that can facilitate applied research.
The proposed lab would employ 15-20 direct lab staff and engage hundreds of Cal Poly Humboldt students annually. The jobs created by the lab would be family-wage careers accessible to workers without four-year degrees. About 60% of the jobs would only require a high school diploma, along with technical training. This would align with our objective to create well-paying jobs in a region experiencing a significant economic disadvantage.
Implementing the certification laboratory would grant access to certifying more than ten different fire and seismic resisting building materials that meet California Building Code requirements. These materials would be essential in addressing post-disaster reconstruction needs in communities that are vulnerable to wildfires and after seismic events. In addition, products derived from biomass would receive official certification and create value-added markets that transform liabilities (slash pile burning) to an economic asset. These facets of the certification laboratory would help Northern California advance its climate resilience while finding use for biomass that would have otherwise been left an untapped resource.
Forest WRX Alliance is focused on strengthening systems that improve forest and community resilience. The primary areas of interest include forest product markets, both traditional and innovative products made from smaller diameter trees and woody biomass, and ecosystem service markets, such as carbon, water, or biodiversity markets. In this way, we aim to employ our region’s unique attributes strategically to jumpstart fly-wheel solutions that will continue to perpetuate benefits. Our proposed ISO/IEC 17025 accredited testing and certification laboratory could help us achieve that.
Stay tuned for updates on this exciting initiative!
