From Georgia’s Coastal Plain to the Piedmont and into the foothills, the closure of pulp mills has changed how forests must be grown. While the economic effects are easy to see, another shift is happening at the forest level: pine seedling genetics matter more than ever.
For decades, pulp mills provided a dependable market for small-diameter and lower – quality wood. In South Georgia, where recent closures have had the most impact, early thinning helped manage dense pine plantations and provided steady income. In middle Georgia, pulpwood markets allowed landowners flexibility in timing harvests. Even in parts of North Georgia, pulp outlets helped absorb wood that didn’t meet sawtimber standards. That system provided a margin for errors.
Today, much of that margin is gone.
With fewer pulp markets, Georgia landowners increasingly depend on sawtimber and chip-and-saw markets, which demand fewer trees grown larger, straighter, and more resistant to fusiform rust. Stands that underperform may have limited or no market options. In this environment, the quality of each tree matters more than it once did.
That places even more importance on genetics.
The Georgia Forestry Commission’s Reforestation and Tree Improvement Program helps landowners adapt to this reality by supplying genetically improved pine seedlings selected for volume production, stem form, and fusiform rust resistance. These traits are especially important now that stands receive fewer thinnings – or none at all – making it critical to get the stand established right from the start.
A cornerstone of this effort is Georgia Forestry Commission’s membership in the NC State University Tree Improvement Program for Loblolly Pine and membership in the University of Florida’s slash pine breeding and testing cooperative, the CFGRP (Cooperative Forest Genetics Research Program). The GFC carries out breeding and testing efforts that are guided by scientists, geneticists, and forest silviculturists to find and establish superiorly adapted selections that will be grafted into GFC seed orchards and planted into GFC nurseries for lifting and distribution to Georgia landowners.
The financial stakes are higher than ever. Reforestation costs remain significant, but returns are pushed further into the future as rotations lengthen. Without pulpwood income to offset costs mid-rotation, poor genetic choices at planting can affect land and timber value for decades. Genetics remains one of the most cost-effective investments a landowner can make, because those benefits last for the life of the stand. Add in rising pressure from drought, insects, and disease, and resilience becomes essential. With fewer economic safety nets, every tree must earn its place in the forest and that success starts with the right seedling.
If you would like to learn more about which pine seedling to plant on your land, or just want to learn more about how the Georgia Forestry Commission’s Reforestation Department adds value to the state and region’s working forests, please take a look at gatrees.org or gaseedlings.org.
By: Jeff Fields, Reforestation Chief