Georgia lawmakers are seeking to strengthen the state’s powerful forestry industry long term as well as provide relief to timberland owners who suffered losses from Hurricane Helene last September.

Legislators are considering nearly a dozen timber-related measures this year. They include providing tax relief for those impacted by the hurricane, permanently increasing the maximum weight of trucks allowed on Georgia highways, and prohibiting local governments from preventing the use of mobile sawmills.

Helene leveled forests and damaged or destroyed millions of acres of timberland across Georgia, which ranks among the top states for harvesting timber in the country.

For Jake Matthews, vice president of government affairs at the Georgia Forestry Association, the help is needed to sustain and grow the state’s forestry industry at a time that timber use expected to decline. The downturn is in part due to the rising cost of construction materials and the decline in housing construction.

“Overall, we’ve seen a decrease in wood use,” Matthews said. “We’ve seen a decrease, especially in our pulp and paper markets. And if there are no markets, there’s nowhere for a landowner to take their wood. There is no incentive to actually grow trees.”
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Source: ajc.com