Page 23 - Georgia Forestry - Issue 3 - Summer 2020

Forest Management
Forest Management staff and technicians have accomplished a tremendous amount of work during these challenging times. Most everyone’s homes have become their offices, social distancing is the norm and hand sanitizer is now a partner with tick spray. A great amount of effort by the Management Department, as well as Geographic Information System (GIS) staff, went into producing the April Tornadoes Assessment. In addition, cost-share practices have been planned and certified, logging sites and case management have been monitored, harvesting advice has been given, pine-bark-beetle prediction trapping was completed, urban communities are being helped in new ways, etc. At press time in early May, our team had completed 1,507 management cases since March; down some from previous years but very encouraging to see in light of the COVID-19 situation. The Farm Recovery Block Grant sign-up ended on April 30. The block grant team is finishing its reviews of applications and final numbers will be released soon.
Community Forester Seth Hawkins assesses tornado damage, safely.
Forest Services,
Utilization&Marketing
Despite new challenges created by COVID-19, these staff members have con- tinued to serve Georgia citizens, timber owners and the forest industry. From positions across the state, the team has continued working with partner agencies, answering customer requests and man- aging grants that add value to the state economy throughout the forest products supply chain. Data is always being gath- ered for a number of productivity reports, including the annual Timber Product
Output Survey. The team continues to track the capabilities of mills, processing plants and transportation systems.
Adhering to social distancing guide- lines has created the need for one-person teams (instead of the usual pairs) to conduct Forest Inventory Analysis work, the process of measuring and docu- menting timber conditions on forested plots throughout the state. The infor- mation is critical to the marketing of Georgia’s forest industry capabilities to the world. Read the recently completed Forests of Georgia 2018 fact sheet at: https://gatrees.org/wp-content/ uploads/2020/04/Forests-of-Georgia- 2018.pdf.
Law Enforcement
Like other departments, GFC’s Law Enforcement (LE) team has adjusted to health guidelines by teleworking. Inves- tigations have continued, with limited in-person meetings. In the first two weeks of April, seven timber complaint inves- tigations were opened—a number that is
Preparing the NEXT GENERATION of forestry professionals BUSINESS GEOSPATIAL BIOMETRICS SILVICULTURE
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