TOWN OF CROSS PLAINS (WKOW) -- South of Cross Plains on Garfoot Road, there's the sound of opportunity for local sawmillers Alex Greene and Jim Birkemeier.

"There's such a demand for people to use timber if they have it on site," said Greene on Tuesday

On a hillside will go a custom home, the oak trees that once stood there are now part of the project to build a custom-built, log cabin style home. That wood will be used for flooring, kitchen cabinets, countertops, and trim, said Birkemeier, the rural Spring Green man who runs a small sawmill operation called Timber Green Forestry.

What really has the two abuzz, however, is the chance to build the structural elements of homes in the future with

Wisconsin lumber. In this case, pine trees were harvested from three counties over.

"Most of the wood in the big box stores is from a government subsized harvest, a clear cut in Canada, and we just can't compete with that commercially," said Birkemeier.

It's because of that competitive disadvantage that the two are applauding a recent move by state lawmakers. They can now work on projects like this and others after a new certification program began this year in Wisconsin.

"That state finally realized that local wood is just as good as that stuff from Canada," laughs Birkemeier.

It's called the local use lumber law. Sawmillers can take a certification class to teach them how to selectively harvest forests and carve the trees into sturdy useable structural lumber like two-by-fours.

Greene, who runs Red Beard Lumber in Iowa County, said now people like him can "use material that we harvest from someone's property or our own property, and saw it, and use that in place of grade stamp, certified lumber that you'd buy at Home Depot or Menards."

The environmental benefits are two-fold. "All of the processing and manufacturing is taking place here, that really saves in terms of fuel costs," said Greene.

The process can also thin out but preserve forestlands, as well as clear out invasive species like Buckthorn.

"Our goal, whatever we're doing, is to improve the quality of the woods we're working in, added Greene. "The only exception would be for clearcutting is if we're clearning for a building site."

These sawmillers believe lawmakers helped create a new type of green collar job. One with a chance to build most custom, local homes.

UW-Stephens Point professor Bob Govett, who teaches the local lumber certification classes, said at least sixty people are now certified to build custom homes with Wisconsin timber. He said that number will double by the start of the fall.