Recently the Idaho State Board of Education gave the go-ahead for a new arena on the University of Idaho campus. …This building is likely to be a major innovation from any other new building in the state or even the U of I campus. …[and] has a unique design challenge: use as much Idaho wood as possible and as little Idaho energy as possible. …in the last 25 years the use of wood in construction has come to the forefront of sustainable practices and advanced engineering and is possibly the best single method to provide carbon sequestration (sustainability) the AEC industry has identified. It is now possible in Idaho to build a very large structure from wood grown, harvested, engineered, processed and installed all in Idaho.