Georgia forestry considers future after Helene, mill closures and market decline

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Georgia's forestry industry begins in rural Georgia but impacts every corner of the state.

Credit: Georgia Forestry Association

Georgia's forestry industry is reeling from two major setbacks since 2024. Last year, timber growers suffered an estimated billion dollars in losses from Hurricane Helene, and this year saw the closure of three large South Georgia paper mills in Savannah, Riceboro, and Cedar Springs, shutting 1,000 jobs and shutting off key buyers for Georgia timber.  GPB's Orlando Montoya spoke about what's next for the industry with Tim Lowrimore, president and CEO of the Georgia Forestry Association, which represents landowners, loggers, haulers, manufacturers, and others.

Orlando Montoya: We just marked the 1-year anniversary since Hurricane Helene. Can you talk about the scale of the loss there and how the recovery is going for timber growers?

Tim Lowrimore: The scale of loss from Hurricane Helene was unprecedented. ... It was something like we've never seen before. What I will tell you is that typically after a storm, data shows like after Hurricane Michael as well as Hurricane Hugo, generally —there's generally about a 20%, 18% to 20% recovery of downed timber. Our early estimates, a year out, are showing that we were somewhere in the neighborhood of 30% to 35% recovery of downed timber, which is a very good success story. I think that speaks to the resiliency of our industry. It speaks to resiliency of landowners. So, very thankful that our community rallied around and was able to help landowners get a third of the downed and damaged timber recovered and moved. Now saying that, we still have work to do. There's still 70% of that timber that's still down and still damaged. And I know that our state, the Legislature last year and Gov. Kemp, they responded in a huge way. And much of that work is being done now to help landowners open up their roads and to open up their forests and remove debris. And really doing all of that with the desire of preventing catastrophic wildfire.

Orlando Montoya: Those international paper workers in Savannah and Riceboro will be out of jobs right about now. That closure was set for the end of September. What resources are available for those workers?

Tim Lowrimore: Yeah, so I know since that announcement took place five weeks ago. I know that the state of Georgia, immediately that morning we received phone calls from our state leadership and really the local community there in Savannah, all offering their deep concern about the mill closures and then their extreme willingness to help those workers that were directly impacted by the announcement there in international paper. And I'm aware that the state has moved in and offered to do job fairs. And I also am aware, I believe that international paper hosted job fairs there on site. From that perspective, those folks that were working in the paper industry are highly skilled. And I believe those folks will be — will have an opportunity to take their skills and their trades to other places there in Savannah as unfortunate as it seems.

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Tim Lowrimore, president and CEO of the Georgia Forestry Association, speaks for timber growers, timber haulers, pulp and paper manufactures and others who benefit from Georgia's forests, some of the most productive in the nation.

Credit: Georgia Forestry Association

Orlando Montoya: These events, Hurricane Helene and the mill closures, they're not occurring in a vacuum. We have a decline in manufactured cardboard. What's causing that decline? And again, is there any opportunity to grow in other parts of the industry that could help Georgians?

Tim Lowrimore: Yeah, great question and an insightful question, Orlando. I think there is certainly a rebalancing in the cardboard, liner board market, as it's called. And there's a couple things driving that, right? There's efficiencies that are being gained in the process itself. And what I mean by that is that the facilities 10 years ago have gotten much more efficient and they are utilizing less fiber. They can make the board — the liner board, the cardboard that we all receive at our house in an Amazon box or any other kind of box that we order — they're using less fiber in those products. And additionally, we're doing a really nice job here in America with recycling. So you're seeing recycled material take the place of virgin fiber in products that are being made in facilities like such as what was being made there in Savannah. There are opportunities for, I think, for new products to come. I think some are short term, I think some are long term. A short-term example would be — we're asking the question now a lot — What would it look like if here in the U.S. South, if we were using our wood fiber to create power for really the needs of our citizens and for the needs of the growing industry that we're seeing in our state around artificial intelligence factories, data centers. We convert our trees into wood pellets. We put them on a barge. We send them to Europe and they convert them into power. And we're not doing that here in the U.S.. And then additionally, I think for another product opportunity long term, I think the sky's the limit. What those opportunities look like are around fuels — sustainable fuels that society's asking for, for aviation, for marine. I think there's opportunities for those types of fuels. And then I also think there are opportunities in the medical field and then the bioplastic opportunities for us. Those are, I think, a little bit further down the road than what I believe power opportunities are.

Orlando Montoya: It can be hard for people to understand the impact of Georgia's forestry industry on rural communities, especially in South Georgia, and how that radiates throughout the state. Before we go, can you give us some measure of that impact and really why everyone should be paying attention to this?

Tim Lowrimore: Yeah, thank you for asking that question. Georgia, for a long time, has been the No. 1 forestry state in the nation. What that means is that we have more forest land in our state. We produce as much lumber from trees as any other state. We produce as much pulp and paper products as any other state. We export as much product to other countries from our forest as any other state. So forestry is really the backbone of rural economies across our state. Not only for rural Georgia, but also for those urban and suburban areas that really depend on the benefits that come from our forest. Not only — and I'm not only mentioning the goods and products that come there, I'm thinking about the clean air, the clean water, the opportunities for recreation to get out into the woods and walk and enjoy. There's tons of opportunities and benefits, and I believe forests are what make Georgia great. I believe it's what makes Georgia green, and we'll continue to do all that we can do here at the Georgia Forestry Association to ensure that that's the pathway forward.

Orlando Montoya: Well, Tim Lowrimore is president and CEO of the Georgia Forestry Association. Thanks for speaking with me.

Tim Lowrimore: Thank you for having me.