The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced the launch of an innovative new tool, the Log Truck Route Planner, to help forest owners, mill operators, and log truckers in the Pacific Northwest allocate timber and schedule log trucks. The system can assist users in coordinating routing between logging sites and sawmills which can significantly increase the returns to log truck owners/operators, create efficiencies in the operation of sawmills, and ultimately increase the market for US timber products. The new tool offers a way for the timber industry to reduce empty backhaul miles and increase the volume of timber moved daily, with a goal of increasing efficiency and revenue earned. The tool was developed in partnership with Washington State University and the Forest Service. The tool provides both a log allocator and truck scheduler, which can be run sequentially or independently.