Experts: New building material can combat climate change, cut wildfire and boost jobs
Missoulian
A new and promising building style called mass timber construction could be the wave of the future by creating Montana jobs, cutting construction costs, combating climate change, reducing wildfires and healing the West’s overgrown forests.
That’s according to a broad coalition of experts in a variety of industries in Missoula, from architects to foresters to builders.
"Mass timber construction, combined with sustainable forest management on public and private lands, can make Montana a leader in achieving a more sustainable future,” said Tom DeLuca, the dean of the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana. “Mass timber construction reduces the dependence on steel and concrete and greatly reduces carbon emission as building with mass timber is, at a minimum, carbon-neutral.”