Page 7 - Tree Line - North Carolina Forestry Association - Third Quarter 2024

NORTH CAROLINA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
1600 Glenwood Ave., Suite I Raleigh, NC 27608
(919) 834-3943 ncforestry.org
BOARD CHAIR
Rob Elliot
PRESIDENT
Chris Charest
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
John E. Hatcher, Jr., Ph.D., CF
We have a lot to be proud of.
This year has brought an incredible amount of progress and momentum to our industry. I’d like to thank my team and our extraordinary members for making this momentum possible. Here is a brief recap of some of the exciting things
happening at the NCFA.
In June, we hosted our annual Forestry Day in the Legislature event. We introduced
several new elements this year, including a special breakfast for young professionals and an evening reception at the Merrimon-Wynne House in Raleigh. The turnout was unbelievable, with half the room representing NC Senators and House members and the other half representing members of the NCFA. We’ve received extremely positive feedback for this year’s event, with many of our members having the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations about our industry with their representatives. We look forward to making next year’s event even better!
And, as you are reading this, high school students across NC are being introduced to our state’s first-ever forestry course with an industry credential: AN53 Natural Resources II – Forestry. We’d like to thank the NC Future Farmers of America Association and the NCFA’s Education Committee for teaming up with us to bring this course to fruition. This is our pilot year, and we can’t wait to get even more students, teachers, and parents excited about this course.
In our previous issue, we shared that our Forest Education Conservation Foundation received a three-year grant from the NC Tobacco Trust Fund late last year. We’ve been utilizing these funds to develop new training materials and business resources for North Carolina’s logging community. We are excited to share that we will be allocating a portion of these funds to a business course that will be made available to loggers this November.
Lastly, we are thrilled to be hosting this year’s annual meeting in Wilmington. Our team is finalizing all the details to make this an unforgettable event for all of you. I hope to see you all there!
It’s a great time to be part of the NCFA. If you ever have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
In Forestry,
John E. Hatcher, Jr., Ph.D., CF
NCFA Executive Director
BOARD MEMBERS
Todd Adams Tommy Adkins Matt Allen Jadie Andrews Scott Askew Blair Bishop Josh Bledsoe Jason Bowman Jay Boyette
Jim Brodie
Ben Burger Doug Burleson Kenneth Cain John Cecil
Will Coleman Clay Creed Chuck Daniels Tara Dickson Bill Dine
Tony Doster Ashley Faircloth David Gadd Brett Goulding George Hahn Pete Hancock Mike Harris Greg Hicks Daniel Hodge Perry Hunt Dylan Hurley
Alec Kearns
AJ Keating Kenneth Lin Jared Lucas Arturo Lumpkin Mike Marks James Mathis Boyd McLaurin Jeff Meacham Phil Mead Justin Moretz Russ Newton Blair Owen
Wib Owen Scott Page
Jess Parton
Will Reese
Greg Ricks Richard Sanders Phil Smith
Lori Spiece
Kim Stewart Richard Taylor Nancy Thompson Will Tulloss Cierra Ward
Seth Ward Allen Whitesell Jerry Williams Jocelyn Wilson
EXECUTIVE MESSAGE
ncforestry.org / THIRD QUARTER 2024 5