SUN JOURNAL • December 14, 2021
A proposal by the University of Maine to accelerate the growth of the forest bio-economy is one of 60 finalists announced this week by the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge. The 60 finalists, chosen from among 529 applicants nationwide, will compete in a second round due in March to award about 25 regional coalitions up to $100 million for projects. Each gets $500,000 soon to develop their proposals more thoroughly for the next round of judging. The forest initiative application said it “represents an opportunity for rural, distressed communities in the Northeast who are among the hardest hit by the pandemic to build back better, cleaner, and greener through strategic investment building on the region’s oldest resource and a heritage industry transformed by the next generation of forest bioproducts.”