The SAWMILL Act establishes a federal loan guarantee program to support sawmills and wood-processing facilities in rural areas near federal lands. The Department of Agriculture, working with the Department of Interior, will identify federal forests and rangeland that need ecological restoration through vegetation removal, then offer loan guarantees to eligible companies that want to build, reopen, or expand wood-processing facilities within 250 miles of those lands. The program recognizes that local processing facilities can reduce the cost of federal forest restoration projects by providing a market for removed timber. The legislation caps total loan guarantees at $220 million and requires the Secretaries to identify priority federal lands for this purpose within one year of the bill's enactment, then reassess every five years thereafter.
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