DURANGO, Colo. -- Timber Age Systems Inc., a company that specializes in making cross-laminated timber for sustainable building projects, plans to expand its manufacturing capacity and develop a new facility after receiving a grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's Recycling Resources Economic.

The approximately $440,000 grant will cover the creation of a new 2,500-3,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility that will triple Timber Age’s capacity. It will also help the company add more employees and increase the use of locally harvested ponderosa pines.

In the video below, company co-founder Andrew Hawk and his colleagues, details how they take logs -- primarily logs that remained after local forest fires -- to make cross-laminated timber.

Timber Age Systems aims to create usable wood products from fire mitigation efforts throughout the Southwest. The company sources all the wood it uses from fire mitigation projects, and uses public and private land for the ponderosa pines it needs.

In doing so, trees that would normally be wasted are diverted while creating economic opportunities and a product that local builders can use.