Forestry is our state's second largest industry.
With over 14 trillion trees, not even counting urban trees,
Georgia has more trees today than it did 75 years ago.
Not only do our forests help to
provide clean air, water, and wildlife habitats,
it also has created thousands of jobs.
What does that mean?
The Georgia Forestry Commission has the answer.
So tell me about the Forestry Commission.
What is it?
Well we're uh we're here to protect and conserve Georgia's forest resources.
Forests generate over 35.2 billion dollars for our economy.
There's thousands of jobs from people who manage
our forests--our foresters--to the loggers,
to the products that come from trees.
How did this all get started in the first place?
Well, really you can trace it back to colonial times.
Back when they were building ships, they would come out and
cut the live oaks to use for the
structure of the ships.
This is called the naval stores industry.
And that was really our first forest industry in Georgia.
If there were no forests, what would happen to our Georgia industry?
Well I mean, our economy would take a
significant hit lose many many jobs we
would lose our exports... really the whole
world would feel a hit without the
forest products that Georgia provides.
Forests are among our original
longest-lasting renewable resources.
We have the natural resources. Trees are part
of our natural environment and integrate
the use of the other natural resources
soil, water, air. Then we have the human
resource: the people who make up the
forest industry, whether they be
individual landowners or consulting
foresters or people who are in the
timber business and then there's the
capital element which is all the
businesses the sawmills paper mills all
of the investment that is made to
transform the raw product into something
that is of commercial value we're
constantly finding people who come up
with new uses for products and lead to
the creation of new industries and then
there are those who start up the
businesses most of our consulting
foresters we probably consider
entrepreneurs because most of them are
self-employed really you can be an
entrepreneur in nature as well that's
correct
very much lots of other states have
forestry and a timber industry but as
far as literally the volume and the
economic impact this is the center this
is the breadbasket not only of the
southeast but also the whole country if
it wasn't for the private land ownership
we'd be in dire straits in terms of the
supply most of the wood and wood
products comes from private land
ownership which is another facet a lot
of the younger people perhaps don't know
they figure it most of the wood must
come from federal lands or maybe the
state-owned properties and and some does
but it's certainly not the majority when
you think of a forest what may come to
mind may be a state or national park but
here in Georgia more than 90 percent of
our forests are actually privately owned
that's right
Georgia alone has more private acres of
forest land than any other state in the
nation so we're actually here on the
Bembry farm which that's your last name
does that mean you owe in this land my
family and I do most of the forest land
in Georgia is privately owned
and it is up to the private forest
landowners to be good stewards of that
land we grow these trees obviously one
ultimate benefit is some of them will be
harvested the log be used for lumber or
building products I think a lot of
people think when you cut down a tree
that it's a bad thing but I've learned a
lot that it's a good thing
feel free to print your emails because
paper is a good thing it is a product is
biodegradable it comes from trees which
are renewable and sustainable and it's
so it's all part of the cycle this is
beautiful you brought me down to the
river now but what does the river have
to do with forestry well it's really
important because the river was the
first transportation route we had for
harvest of timber to get to the market
or to get to a sawmill this is the
Ocmulgee both Okmulgee the Oconee and
they come together to form two Altamaha
they were a major conduit for commerce
back in the 1800s when the timber was
cut they'd be dragged by mule down to
the river the logs were all hooked
together into big rafts and they'd float
them from here all the way down to the
coast the fall line which divides the
state into the Piedmont versus the
coastal plain is where the topography
changes so it's more hilly and the
rivers up there a rocky and swifter and
no way you could even get a log raft of
them but that made this area more
amenable to develop in the forest
products industry
that's a commonly known phrase for watch
out for that falling tree but the word
timber actually means much more to the
forestry industry and when it comes to
forest products it's only the beginning
this is awesome out here where are we we
are in a timber harvest inside timber
harvesting what does that mean well we
are the ones that come in here and to a
force just like this and we are the ones
that have the equipment that cuts the
trees down takes all the limbs of them
all and puts them on the big trucks and
hauls them to the meals all trees can be
a renewable resource
in especially pine trees pine trees are
planted in rows just like crops and we
manage them just like farms instead of
harvesting every year like a farm
usually does we actually let it grow to
a specific age and based on the markets
available in your area that depends on
when you harvest there's over 10,000
products made from wood primarily the
product that is getting hauled out of
this track is going to the sawmills
which is making lumber for various needs
mentioned timber and I know I've heard
the word lumber used as well what's the
difference there
well timber is before it gets turned
into a product lumber is one of the
products from timber so I deal with the
timber side I deal with the logs before
they are produced into a certain product
our company is a third-generation
logging company it was started by my
grandfather and my dad they then you
were doing it with a chainsaw now with
me being and we have this big equipment
out here that does it with intense speed
and it does it was intense accuracy and
it's just a whole scaled operation to
where it's high speeds nowadays to where
it was more of a slower go back then and
as a logger some of the practices that I
personally try and uphold is the BMPs
and that's your best management
practices when you move on to a tract of
timber and you're getting ready to
harvest it you need to pay attention to
the streams and you have safety
management zones which are called SM Z's
you have to leave a certain buffer and
barrier so you won't cause that stream
to have any sediment running off into it
because if it was bare it could harm the
environment trees are strong and
versatile and that's why a building with
wood is a good idea in turf or is a
sawmill and remanufacturing company here
in Perry Georgia and one of the world's
largest lumber producers everything
seems to be pretty well oiled here at
inner core how long have you guys been
around in turf or has been around for
over 50 years we serve 30 markets around
the world from our operations we're
close to the markets that need lumber
and so it's easy for us to get our
product to markets into customers then
ofor has seven operations in the state
of Georgia those seven mills we produce
about a billion board feet of lumber on
an annual basis and for perspective in
Georgia there's about three billion
board
produced in the state which Georgia is
the largest lumber producing state in
the nation
we know that trees are strong they're 80
to 90 foot tall and they can withstand
strong wind and storms and so we're just
using the same stream that a tree has in
the forest and we're manufacturing it
into a board and where we can take it to
a building site and build things and
make things out of it our business is
dependent on trees and we're dependent
on having a steady supply of logs coming
in to our operations so when we purchase
logs from landowners from their
privately managed forest that gives them
an incentive to continue to manage that
land in a sustainable way and that
sustainable way is planting trees back
where either themselves or the next
generation coming behind them can enjoy
the same returns in the same profits off
of that land that they received there's
not probably a day that a child or a
student waits up and hasn't touched a
forest product that was created here in
the state of Georgia for example ours
they wake up in a house right and our
lumber behind us there's a really nice
chance that our lumber is being used in
the frame of that house to hold it up
there are hundreds of ways that trees
make their way into our daily lives
going way beyond what we see in the
forest next time you're home take a look
around because you might be benefitting
from some trees of your very own
you