Page 9 - Georgia Forestry - Issue 2 - Spring 2022

Look out across the horizon in Georgia’s sixth- largest county and you’ll likely see pine trees. Acres upon acres of pine trees.
“We’re one of the biggest forest baskets in the state,” said Emanuel County Administrator Guy Singletary. “We’ve got a couple of sawmills, a pellet mill and dimensional lumber mill, and we
value the forest industry here in Emanuel County.”
It was only natural for Singletary to accept an invitation to come to
the table when the Georgia Forestry Association began assembling a “timber harvest working group” in 2019. Also invited were repre- sentatives from the Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC), ACCG (the association of Georgia’s county commissioners), timber harvesters and other industry partners. The goal was to create a uniform timber harvest notification (THN) process that serves both counties and the forestry sector well. The group’s work resulted in Georgia House Bill 897, which passed in 2020, requiring changes to OCGA 12-6-24.
Why was this needed? To create a more uniform, streamlined system that tracks timber harvesting activities and the necessary
Georgia’s New Timber Harvest Notification System Makes Its Debut
For harvesters’ convenience, the new THN system is accessible by mobile device.
www.GeorgiaForestryMagazine.com | 7