Page 11 - Georgia Forestry - Summer 2017

“I feel like it’s my responsibility to leave it better than how I got it, and continue to pass it on to my kids, and my sister’s kids.”
Landowner
Chas Cannon
Moultrie, GA
Chas Cannon is a fifth-generation landowner from Moultrie, Georgia.
His great-great-grandfather moved to South Georgia in search of timberland and pur- chased the property in 1917, making the farm eligible for the Georgia Centennial Farm Award this year. Cannon’s family continued to acquire land surrounding the original property, and the farm is now approximately 2,000 acres, with half in crop production and half in timber.
Cannon, who served in the U.S. Army from 2001-2013, took over the management of the property following his father’s death in 2002. Since then he sought after as much information as possible to teach himself how to manage his family’s land properly.
“When I was 22 years old, I had to basically teach myself about forestry and how to manage property from books, magazines, classes and web-
sites, basically anything I could get my hands on,” Cannon said. “It is still kind of a work in progress.”
Like some of Georgia’s forest landowners, Cannon is the primary property manager, remaining heavily involved in the management of the land. He personally executes nearly all the activities required to keep the land in good order, including administrative activities, drafting harvesting contracts, planting, spraying, burning and more.
“Just learning all the dif- ferent things you can do with the land is eye opening.” Cannon said. “I had to learn through experimentation and signing up with the Longleaf Alliance, the Georgia For- estry Association, the Georgia Forestry Commission and various outlets to continually research and learn.”
Cannon is now exploring opportunities to create more wildlife habitat on the prop- erty while converting some
large pieces of land from irri- gated farmland to longleaf pine. With his children and his sister’s children as the main benefactors of the land, he said his ultimate objective is to preserve the legacy of the property — to keep it from being developed or broken up — by enrolling in a perpetual conservation easement.
“Honestly, I don’t feel like I’m the owner. I’m more like
the steward,” Cannon said. “I’m just the latest in the long line of people to own this land. I feel like it’s my responsibility to leave it better than how I got it, and continue to pass it on to my kids, and my sister’s kids.”
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