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Forests owned by individuals and family landowners account for about two-thirds of Georgia’s private forests. This study provides a snapshot of the status and trend of forest management practices of Georgia family forest landowners and the unit costs associated with significant management activities through a survey of the consulting foresters practicing in the state. Family forest landowners increasingly managed pines intensively with various management regimes. Hardwood and mixed forests accounted for more than half of Georgia’s private forests, but they were mainly managed in a custodial manner. Besides receiving revenue from timber sales, many landowners in Georgia received additional income from hunting leases and selling pine straw. The results have important implications for the financial returns of timber investment and the long-term timber supply of the state. It also provides essential information to county assessors for fair and equitable timberland valuation for property tax purposes.

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) employs regulations to protect threatened and endangered species and their habitat on private lands. Complying with ESA regulations can cause economic losses for private landowners; failure to comply can result in fines and imprisonment. Current policies may create an economic disincentive for maintaining habitat for listed species on private lands, thus undermining the very purpose of the ESA. This study examined a purposive sample of key family forest landowners’ perspectives on the ESA. An electronic survey was administered to members of national and state forestry organizations across the United States ( N = 928). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that respondents’ attitudes toward the ESA, private property norms, and past behavior were significant predictors of their behavioral intention to participate in potential incentive programs. Results revealed key family forest landowners’ perspectives on species conservation, with implications for future policy changes that could lead to more effective protection of listed species in the United States.

The United States needs many different types of forests: some managed for wood products plus other benefits, and some managed for nonconsumptive uses and benefits. The objective of reducing global greenhouse gases (GHG) requires increasing carbon storage in pools other than the atmosphere. Growing more forests and keeping forests as forests are only part of the solution, because focusing solely on the sequestration benefits of the forests misses the important (and substantial) carbon storage and substitution GHG benefits of harvested forest products, as well as other benefits of active forest management. Forests and global climate are closely linked in terms of carbon storage and releases, water fluxes from the soil and into the atmosphere, and solar energy capture. Understanding how carbon dynamics are affected by stand age, density, and management and will evolve with climate change is fundamental to exploiting the capacity for sustainably managed forests to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. For example, even though temperate forests continue to be carbon sinks, in western North America forest fires and tree mortality from insects are converting some forests into net carbon sources. Expanding forest biomass use for biofuels and energy generation will compete with traditional forest products, but it may also produce benefits through competition and market efficiency. Short-rotation woody crops, as well as landowners' preferences-based on investment-return expectations and environmental considerations, both of which will be affected by energy and environmental policies-have the potential to increase biomass supply. Unlike metals, concrete, and plastic, forest products store atmospheric carbon and have low embodied energy (the amount of energy it takes to make products), so there is a substitution effect when wood is used in place of other building materials. Wood used for energy production also provides substitution benefits by reducing the flow of fossil fuel-based carbon emissions to the atmosphere. The value of carbon credits generated by forest carbon offset projects differs dramatically, depending on the sets of carbon pools allowed by the protocol and baseline employed. The costs associated with establishing and maintaining offset projects depend largely on the protocols' specifics. Measurement challenges and relatively high transaction costs needed for forest carbon offsets warrant consideration of other policies that promote climate benefits from forests and forest products but do not require project-specific accounting. Policies can foster changes in forest management and product manufacture that reduce carbon emissions over time while maintaining forests for environmental and societal benefits. US policymakers should take to heart the finding of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its Fourth Assessment Report when it concluded that \"In the long term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre, or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit.\" A rational energy and environmental policy framework must be based on the premise that atmospheric greenhouse gas levels are increasing primarily because of the addition of geologic fossil fuel-based carbon into the carbon cycle. Forest carbon policy that builds on the scientific information summarized in this article can be a significant and important part of a comprehensive energy policy that provides for energy independence and carbon benefits while simultaneously providing clean water, wildlife habitat, recreation, and other uses and values.

The effects of midrotation competition control and fertilization were studied in two loblolly pine stands in the Coastal Plain of Georgia. The use of fertilizer or herbicide alone did not enhance wood yields above the control, which negates the cost spent to conduct these practices. The combined treatment of fertilization and herbicide promoted higher average pine annual increment and greater proportion of sawtimber. Site limiting factors, most likely both competing woody vegetation and low nutrient status, largely determined the effectiveness and priority of midrotation treatments. The economic returns of the combined treatment varied considerably depending on stumpage prices, treatment costs, and magnitude and duration of the growth response. Sawtimber prices (absolute value and relative to pulpwood and chip-n-saw) play a critical role in the marginal returns of midrotation treatments. Continued depressed sawtimber prices will discourage private landowners from investing in midrotation vegetation control and fertilization. Study Implications: Midrotation fertilization and vegetation control can be attractive silvicultural treatments to increase timber volume and economic returns. Assessment of site variables that limit growth, especially soil fertility and plant competition, must be conducted before prioritization of treatments. The economic returns of midrotation treatments vary greatly depending on treatment costs, stumpage prices, and magnitude and duration of pine growth response compared with controls. The pine growth response of particular concern is ingrowth of trees into the sawtimber size class and growth of sawtimber-sized trees. Sawtimber prices play a critical role in the marginal internal rate of return of the additional investment. Lackluster timber prices (especially sawtimber prices) may render investment in midrotation fertilization and vegetation control unattractive and have detrimental effects on timber supply and forest health of the region in the long term.

We investigated the addition of a small chipper (Conehead 565) to a mechanized, tree-length system to harvest tops, limbs, and understory (1-4 in. dbh) biomass. Three replicates of three treatments (A, tree-length only; B, tree-length with limbs and tops chipped; and C, tree-length with limbs, tops, and understory chipped) were evaluated in a 33-year-old slash pine plantation on a flatwoods site in the lower coastal plain of Echols County, Georgia. The site contained an estimated 7.7 green tons/ac of understory biomass with an average dbh of 2 in. Water oak, swamp bay, and red maple accounted for 73% of the stems. Roundwood production averaged 65.8 tons/ac and did not differ significantly across the three clearcut treatments. A vanload of chips was produced for every 18 and 5 truckloads of roundwood in Treatments B and C, respectively. There were significant differences in the weight per acre of chips produced between Treatment B (3.8 green tons/ac) and Treatment C (10.8 green tons/ac) at the α = 0.1 significance level but not at the 0.05 significance level. Total production averaged 28.6 tons per scheduled machine-hour and did not differ significantly across the three treatments. Green chips averaged 45% moisture content when produced, and laboratory results showed heat content values of 19.1 MJ/kg, which is comparable to other woody biomass. Nutrient removals from the site were relatively low, with losses associated with Treatment B comparable to annual atmospheric deposition. Raking costs associated with site preparation were significantly reduced (by $23/ac) on Treatment C, where the understory was also chipped. Both Treatment B and Treatment C had significantly less area lost to debris piles (1.0%) after site preparation than tree-length harvesting without chipping residuals (1.7%). Chipping logging residues along with understory stems in a clearcut harvest produced quality energy chips at a competitive cost, reduced site preparation cost, and increased plantable area.

The headlines regarding global forest industries have been dominated by the news of rapidly growing demand in Southeast Asia, as well as rapid manufacturing facilities in South America. For years the industry was a low-cost producer, benefiting from excellent infrastructure, productive forests on low-cost land, innovative logging contractors, and strong product markets. To successfully compete in a global marketplace, the industry must continually evaluate how it supplies its mills and implements changes to keep it competitive. Researchers recently investigated the cost of doing business in the US wood supply chain compared to foreign competitors and how the wood supply chain can be modified to improve its competitiveness in the world markets. While fiber costs are the single largest component of direct paper manufacturing costs, researchers suggest that wood supply chain efficiency needs to be studied through to the final product. The cost of environmental compliance from forest to mill is often cited as one of the deciding factors resulting in lower production costs in countries with low environmental standards.

The United States needs many different types of forests: some managed for wood products plus other benefits, and some managed for nonconsumptive uses and benefits. The objective of reducing global greenhouse gases (GHG) requires increasing carbon storage in pools other than the atmosphere. Growing more forests and keeping forests as forests are only part of the solution, because focusing solely on the sequestration benefits of the forests misses the important (and substantial) carbon storage and substitution GHG benefits of harvested forest products, as well as other benefits of active forest management.Forests and global climate are closely linked in terms of carbon storage and releases, water fluxes from the soil and into the atmosphere, and solar energy capture. Understanding how carbon dynamics are affected by stand age, density, and management and will evolve with climate change is fundamental to exploiting the capacity for sustainably managed forests to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. For example, even though temperate forests continue to be carbon sinks, in western North America forest fires and tree mortality from insects are converting some forests into net carbon sources.Expanding forest biomass use for biofuels and energy generation will compete with traditional forest products, but it may also produce benefits through competition and market efficiency. Short-rotation woody crops, as well as landowners' preferences—based on investment-return expectations and environmental considerations, both of which will be affected by energy and environmental policies—have the potential to increase biomass supply.Unlike metals, concrete, and plastic, forest products store atmospheric carbon and have low embodied energy (the amount of energy it takes to make products), so there is a substitution effect when wood is used in place of other building materials. Wood used for energy production also provides substitution benefits by reducing the flow of fossil fuel–based carbon emissions to the atmosphere.The value of carbon credits generated by forest carbon offset projects differs dramatically, depending on the sets of carbon pools allowed by the protocol and baseline employed. The costs associated with establishing and maintaining offset projects depend largely on the protocols' specifics. Measurement challenges and relatively high transaction costs needed for forest carbon offsets warrant consideration of other policies that promote climate benefits from forests and forest products but do not require project-specific accounting.Policies can foster changes in forest management and product manufacture that reduce carbon emissions over time while maintaining forests for environmental and societal benefits. US policymakers should take to heart the finding of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its Fourth Assessment Report when it concluded that “In the long term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre, or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit.” A rational energy and environmental policy framework must be based on the premise that atmospheric greenhouse gas levels are increasing primarily because of the addition of geologic fossil fuel–based carbon into the carbon cycle. Forest carbon policy that builds on the scientific information summarized in this article can be a significant and important part of a comprehensive energy policy that provides for energy independence and carbon benefits while simultaneously providing clean water, wildlife habitat, recreation, and other uses and values.

Florida’s subtropical Keys, a beautiful string of lush, low-lying islands and coral reefs straddling the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, begin at Key Largo just south of Miami and end in the Dry Tortugas. They are famous today for the Conch Republic, Cayo Hueso, “Margaritaville,” “parrotheads,” bone fishing, fabulous diving areas in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, key lime pie, and the diminutive key deer. But there is much more to them and their long, rich history. The Keys were originally inhabited by a people called the Calusas. Ponce de Leon made the European discovery of the Keys