Page 24 - Georgia Forestry - Issue1 - Winter 2021
P. 24
Right: Pine seedlings at Flint River Nursery. Below: Clinch County 2007. (Left to right) Chris Henderson, Raymond Corbitt, Andrew Register,
Ray Howling and William Infinger.
lumber production, and in 1888, like- minded forest leaders collaborated to form the Southern Forestry Congress at a meeting in Atlanta.
Desire for forest protection led to the establishment of state forestry depart- ments in every southern state. As a result, the Georgia General Assembly passed the Forestry Act of 1921, provid- ing for a State Board of Forestry. The year 1921 is recognized as the birth year for the Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC).
In its report to the 1922 General Assembly, the Board focused on the eco- nomic importance of forests to Georgia and potential threats posed by a lack of conservation practices. The report also showed declining timber harvests, the waning naval stores industry, increasing soil erosion, and rising state unemploy- ment from forest depletion.
One hundred years have brought monumental change to the forest industry and to the state agency that
22 | GEORGIA FORESTRY
