Page 28 - Georgia Forestry - Issue 2 - Spring 2023

Growing together in Georgia
As a leader in wood products manufacturing, Canfor Southern Pine is proud to partner with Georgia landowners and log suppliers to produce quality pine lumber from our facilities in Thomasville and Moultrie, GA and Estill, SC.
150+
GFA members attended this event to learn and network with Georgia’s political leadership.
The first listening session featured an economic outlook for the forestry indus- try and markets headlined by Dr. Roger C. Tutterow, Professor of Economics at Kennesaw State University, and Amanda Hamsley Lang, COO and vice president of client services at Forisk, both of whom laid out a strong future for the industry economy. [PHOTO 6]
The optimistic economic outlook was followed by a presentation on the foreign ownership of land and its impact on for- estry. The panel was headlined by Jody Strickland, chief business officer at F&W Forestry Services, State Senator Russ Goodman, and David Bergvall, associ- ate director of environment and policy at Manulife Investment Management, who joined virtually. With increasing attention on the success of the industry in the state of Georgia both nationally and internationally, the panel assured the room that while foreign investment is sure to come, there is no need to fear that private landowners here in Georgia will be pushed out. [PHOTO 7]
The final session closed the day with a discussion on the future of housing affordability and the state’s housing economy led by Kyle Wingfield, president and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, and John Hunt, chief analyst and principal of MarketNsight.
With only a couple of hours of sunlight left, the event moved to its final venue of the day at the Georgia Freight Depot for the legislative reception, where associ- ation members gathered together with state lawmakers for hors d’oeuvres and refreshments. Dozens of state legislators and elected officials were in attendance, taking time to meet GFA members and hear from them on issues affecting them in the industry. [PHOTOS 8&9]
GFA President Andres Villegas was one of the first to greet Lieutenant Gov- ernor Burt Jones as he joined the crowd. Jones was one of several leading Geor- gia politicians to speak at the reception, joined by Governor Brian Kemp, Agri- culture Commissioner Tyler Harper and State Senate President Pro Tempore John Kennedy. [PHOTO 10]
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