Since International Paper abruptly closed its mills in Liberty and Chatham counties last fall, business owners in Southeast Georgia who once made the state the largest timber exporter in the nation have been feeling acute pain.
As of January, demand for timber had dropped more than 60%, meaning truckers and contractors who would haul the raw materials to saw mills or processing plants have lost work. The cost of pulpwood, meanwhile, had plummeted from $15 to $16 a ton to $5 to $6 a ton, according to Shane Harrelson, the owner and manager of Ohoopee Land and Timber in Vidalia.
The upheaval meant that some land owners decided it wasn’t worth replanting their acreage for the next harvest. According to Harrelson, the average price for pulp wood before IP’s closures was $1,125 per acre. Last month, it was $375, a level that means farmers can barely break even.
“It costs about $350 to get an acre replanted,” he said, “So to timber land owners, it doesn’t seem to make sense anymore.”
As the state legislative session hits its halfway point, timber farmer anxieties have not been a priority for state lawmakers, despite promises last year by Republican leaders, including House Majority Leader Jon Burns — one of the largest timber farmers in the state — and Gov. Brian Kemp.
For now, the governor has carved $14 million for the timber industry in his draft budget, based on recommendations from a task force he set up last fall. Most of those funds will go to a timber innovation initiative at Georgia Tech, rather than to farmers.
Separately, House Bill 1000, a bipartisan bill that would would remove local taxes on timber sales, has passed through a committee vote, but not yet scheduled for a House floor vote. If it passed the House and the Senate this session, the bill would become a constitutional amendment that would need approval in a statewide referendum.
Some of these ideas were discussed in a private brainstorming session hosted by the Liberty County Development Authority, timber industry leaders and farmers on Dec. 4.
LCDA Chief Executive Officer Brynn Grant, said the Forestry Solutions Summit, held at the property of Meredith Devendorf Belford on Islands Highway in Midway, was a place for business leaders to discuss innovations and ideas.
Among those plans: a pivot to mass timber, a building material more economical and environmentally friendly than steel or concrete, and much more durable than particle wood. Patrick Shay, the senior principal and architect of Gunn Meyerhoff Shay Architects says floor slabs can also be manufactured out of mass timber to provide further support for a structure without having to pour a concrete foundation, cutting down on time and money.
Since the mills closed, International Paper reportedly laid off over 1,100 employees in August 2025. Along with the Georgia Pacific Cedar Springs closure, the annual demand for the region’s timber has declined by three million tons. Nearly 1,655 total jobs have been lost.
In that climate, the summit was aimed at finding short- and long-term solutions to stabilizing an industry that underpins much of coastal Georgia’s economy and helped make Georgia the top state in timber and pulp wood.
Burns was among those who attended the session. He focused his remarks on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which is produced from wood fiber to blend with Jet A fuel for airplanes.
Europe has set requirements for their aviation fuel suppliers to gradually increase the amount of SAF in their fuel blends, but the substance can be made out of multiple materials other than wood, like cooking oil and municipal waste.
Burns said Georgia leaders are discussing ways to enter this market with Europe but cautioned of the strong economic headwinds that make this a longer term option. Europe blocks chemically treated wood churned out in American mills, and even if this problem was solved, the unstable tariff situation with Europe makes U.S. wood uncompetitive there, he said.
The December meeting became as much as a therapy session for embattled business owners and farmers, as a venue for solutions.
Debt, cuts pile up
LCDA Board Chair state Rep. Al Williams told The Current that many farmers are trying to get refinancing for large equipment payments due to the industry slowdown, with loan payments pushing many to the brink of bankruptcy.
“It’s devastating,” he said, “If you own $2 million worth of equipment and you’re not hauling any logs… That’s scary.”
Harrelson did not attend the summit. But, speaking at a timber land he was harvesting last month, his worries and concerns matched many of the attendees.
While his business sold only 5% of their wood to International Paper, the closure of the company’s business in Coastal Georgia almost sunk him.
His company was selling a maximum of 30 loads of timber the first two weeks after the closure. He cut his own salary in half. Harrelson said truck drivers, who are paid by mileage, have also lost income since they aren’t traveling as much for deliveries. Other subcontractors are earning the bare minimum.
“A year ago I was selling 90 to 100 loads a week,” he said, “If my company were to sell under 40 loads a week for four to six weeks, we wouldn’t be able to keep going.”
Instead of despairing, Harrelson pivoted. He harvested mixed tracts, which are acres of land consisting of different species of wood, such as soft pine and hard wood, that make different types of products from paper to furniture. This strategy helped them get back up to selling 60 to 65 loads a week.
Joe Hopkins, Toledo Manufacturing CEO and land owner, said since IP’s closure he is making a 1% profit on their land.
“We’re barely breaking even,” said Hopkins.
Steve Strickland, vice president of Beach Timber Inc. owns two pole mills in Georgia. Because foresters are out of work, he has seen his mills struggling to procure raw material.
“If you have 1,000 trees in that stand of timber, about 10% of that is going to be straight enough to make poles out of,” said Strickland, “The other 900 trees that aren’t being harvested don’t have a mill anymore, so nothing is being cut.”
He also owns a third mill that is currently closed. Without electrical equipment replacements, the mill won’t be operational.
“With the market in such bad shape, we have no current plans to bring it back online without major capital investment,” said Strickland.
Even still, he hasn’t lost hope in the future of Georgia’s timber industry, highlighting representatives like Burns and Petrea who are actively working to find solutions.
“Our lawmakers are timber people, they have dirt between their toes,” said Strickland, “I’m extremely confident in them.”
In the meantime
Back in November, Williams acknowledged not every business would survive until an IP plant replacement is found.
At a recent meeting of the Rural Development Committee, Williams made it clear that Liberty County has suffered far more economic damage than Savannah has due to IP’s closures.
“It’s a big difference,” he said. “Some people, this is their only means of income, is the selling of timber. And they sell enough to cover the taxes and enough to live. When that goes away, you’ve got a tax problem and a living problem.”
Grant, meanwhile, sees rays of hope.
Grant considered the September IP job fair in Riceboro a success. She said the LCDA has also had positive conversations with IP about future collaborations with the Riceboro property after IP gave zero forewarning on the Riceboro closure.
“There’s a missing piece here or missing piece there that, you know, if we’d had six months, we might have been able to address,” she said. “But ultimately, I think it’s going to be a great first start of a conversation that I hope will lead to real change and opportunity in our industry and in this region.”
Harrelson gets five to six calls a week from people hoping to work the equipment or drive trucks.
A follow up for the Solutions Summit is being planned, but has yet to be scheduled.
You must be logged in to post a comment.