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(serene music) (serene music continues) (serene music continues) (serene music continues) (serene music continues) (serene music continues) (serene music continues) - Georgia is the number one forestry state in the nation.

Now, that combines all the timber land that covers close to 70% of the state, as well as the products that come from those trees.

(bright music) There are other states that have more forest land, but close to 70% of our state is covered in trees.

Most of that is owned by private individuals or companies.

No other state tops the private timber land acreage in Georgia.

Andres Viegas is president of the Georgia Forestry Association and puts a dollar figure on the trees.

- We're the number one forestry state in the nation.

It's something that all of us should be proud of because at the end of the day, forestry is part of our survival, our comfort, and our progress.

Once again, the air that we breathe comes from these trees.

A lot of the water that we consume in cities around the state is being filtered by the forest that all that surround the state.

It's the number-one land use in the state of Georgia.

About 66% of our land is covered in trees, most of that owned by private individuals or companies.

So the stewardship of that is really critical.

Beyond that, we have about a $41 billion impact economically on the state.

So that puts a lot of food on a lot of tables, sends a lot of kids to school, college, and gives our rural economies, in particular, the opportunity to thrive.

- [Sharon] Trees are part of our saving grace when it comes to climate change.

The atmosphere acts like a blanket around the earth.

Carbon dioxide can make that blanket thicker, creating more severe storms, unprecedented drought, and extreme temperatures.

Here's where the trees come in.

They pull carbon in while they grow and replace that carbon with oxygen even after they are harvested.

According to the US Forest Service, a mature live tree can absorb more than 48 pounds of carbon dioxide in one year, keeping the gas stored in its fibers and out of the atmosphere.

The USDA says that during the chemical process of pulling in carbon dioxide, a tree releases enough oxygen to support four people a day.

- When you add the economic impact of our operations, plus the environmental, if you put a dollar figure on the air-water wildlife, it's about $7,000 per person in this state of an impact.

There's few industries, in any part of the world, but few industries in the United States that can say for every person that lives in a state, it's $7,000, plus really.

And those are numbers that have been studied by Georgia Tech as well as the University of Georgia when they come out with their regular reports on the economic impact and the environmental impacts of forestry in Georgia.

- That comment led me here to Sanders Logging in Cochran, Georgia.

If timber land is so valuable for the environment, why is it okay to chop the trees down for commercial purposes?

You are a third-generation logger.

People don't see stuff like this in the urban areas.

I mean, so what's going on behind us?

- So what we have right here is a clear cut operation.

We're clear cutting this whole stand of trees and we are using these trees for several different product classes.

There's product classes like pulp wood, which is going to the paper mills to make paper.

There's chip-n-saw and sawtimber, which is what makes lumber.

- [Sharon] Harry Sanders oversees huge machinery, that tosses trees around like toothpicks.

It's changed a lot from the days when his father and grandfather had to use chainsaws.

- As you see, we have a lot of bigger equipment that can actually handle and manage these trees and, you know, the whole tree and put 'em on the truck.

It's hard work.

It's a whole lot easier than what it used to be as far as like working, you know, actually in the woods and sweating and all that.

But now you have these big tractors that we drive every day that cut the tree, that drag the tree, gets the tree ready to put on the truck.

This particular mill we're hauling to gonna be able to become the fluff pulp that makes the the baby diaper fluff.

- What?

- Yep.

- [Sharon] So that grinds up.

- [Harry] Yup, they'll transform that product right there into the fluff that you see in the baby diapers.

(gentle music) - Look at the beauty of a privately-owned timber land.

The folks who own this property love their land and they love the trees, but a lot of the trees in Georgia are cut down to pay taxes on that land and to make it worthwhile to keep those trees on the property instead of selling it off to a developer for a housing project.

For people who just say, "Well, why are you chopping these trees down?"

This was planted as a crop, right?

That's just like corn.

- That's correct.

So that's a good question.

I always like to be asking, always get real excited when somebody, you know, says that, or says that, you know, we might be hurting the forest by cutting trees, but what we have here is a 25-year crop.

You know, when these landowners planted these trees, they had all intentions to grow 'em like a crop, like corn, peanuts, cotton, anything that you're seeing riding up and down the road, they're growing these trees just like that.

And what it is, is you have about a 25-year rotation, in my particular area, and once the trees get mature enough, then you're gonna cut 'em just like we're doing here.

But you know, I always like to reinforce that, don't be alarmed because these are going to get planted right back into these very same trees that we're cutting.

So you're basically starting the whole rotation over again and hopefully, you know, I'll be able to cut these trees again in 25 more years or my kids will down the road.

- [Sharon] So these trees being cut can end up in baby diapers or stand up as utility poles.

But one of the largest timber land owners in the state is Jamestown, the same folks who own Ponce City Market in Atlanta.

There is a process that uses trees to make a product that's stronger than concrete and helps keep carbon dioxide out of the air.

I met Troy Harris who manages the timber land and wood products division of Jamestown.

- So Jamestown is a $12 billion commercial real estate company, assets under management all over the United States and now even in Europe.

And so we own Ponce City Market here in Atlanta, which we're here at today with where our mass timber building is.

But we also own some other iconic buildings like Chelsea Market in New York City, which is a lot like Ponce and probably our most iconic building is One Times Square where we actually own the New Year's Eve ball and are responsible for dropping the ball every year.

- [Sharon] So what gets this real estate company into ownership of timber land?

- Our investments in timber land are a lot like the way that we're thinking about sustainability with our buildings is that, you know, 10, 15 years ago we were thinking, "Okay, commercial real estate is interesting, but how do we diversify away from that?

What are other things we can do besides office and retail environments?"

And we quickly have landed on timber because of its sustainability nature of the investment itself.

We really liked that, but it's also something very different than commercial real estate.

It's not exposed to the same things like you can imagine like with what we're going through right now with the office environment.

That's struggles in times like these, but timber trees don't care, they don't.

They're out there growing biologically and doing what they're doing.

It's a nice diversification for investors.

- [Sharon] And the thing that gets me about what you guys have figured out to do with the wood, it's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that the wood you're using is as strong, if not stronger, than concrete and steel.

How can that be?

- Yeah, I think we get the question about how can we build something so strong out of wood and do things that we do normally, with concrete and steel.

And the concept is pretty simple.

If you think about it, you've probably been in an old building, maybe an old lodge.

We used to build with wood all the time, with big, large timbers, if you will.

Mass timber is just different.

It's taking smaller trees, cutting and lumber like we use all the time.

And I like to call it plywood on steroids.

It's taking the 2x4s, the 2x6s, and we lay them out one way and then we come back and lay them a different way.

So the fibers and the way that tree runs and the way that lumber runs basically stacks upon itself.

You glue that together and condense it and it becomes very, very strong.

What we love about the material is it can be as strong as concrete and steel, but it's 1/3 lighter.

And so that has some really interesting applications as well.

Not just for how you can build, where you can build, but for transportation logistics, it's just a much more sustainable material to be building with.

- [Sharon] Well, and it sucks in carbon.

Am I right?

- Yes.

That's the beauty of it.

I mean, I think what we really love about the material and where we think that mass timber really is kind of where we're going next with building and construction is that, you know, concrete and steel, the built environment, if you will, where we live, work, and play, really accounts for 40% of the world's global emissions, it's actually more than 40% in the United States, but of that 40% of our emissions, 11% is how we build things.

And so if we can substitute the way we build using high-carbon emitters like concrete and steel and substitute that for timber, which is being sustainably managed here in Georgia.

So we grow a lot of trees.

We're the number one forestry state in the nation.

If we can substitute and use wood, that's a good thing because if you remember back in science class you learned that trees take in carbon dioxide and they give off oxygen and that's an important thing.

But the carbon part of that equation and carbon dioxide is the building block for that tree.

And so it's storing the carbon in that tree if we use it and turn it into lumber, a long-lived wood product, and then turn that into mass timber.

Not only are we taking carbon in the air and doing a good thing, but we're also creating a carbon vault with these mass timber buildings.

And so we're storing that carbon away for a hundred years or the lifecycle of that building.

And then as long as a forester, I'm replanting and managing sustainably, we're continuing that cycle over and over and making, really, a big difference in what we do.

- [Sharon] Mass timber is already a game changer in the world.

There's good reason Jamestown calculated the difference of what the carbon emissions would be if it built this structure with concrete and steel versus using wood.

They found a 75% reduction in carbon emissions by using mass timber instead of concrete and steel.

- Wood is already the new thing.

Countries, Europe, Canada have embraced mass timber.

It's caught on pretty strong in the Pacific Northwest.

And so what you see in those countries is a very active and thriving mass timber building industry where people are using this product all the time.

What I see the future is kind of interesting in that, in our building, you'd be surprised to know that when we went out to market to price the building, we would've been able to do this project cheaper if we'd have sourced it from Austria.

Now, that doesn't make any sense.

When you're a timber land owner in Georgia and you know how sustainable our story is, it made no sense to Jamestown to buy a building kit, if you will, and source it from Austria and have it delivered to Atlanta, Georgia.

That didn't make any sense.

The problem with the supply chain right now is there aren't enough mass timber plants in the United States.

There's an a big one in Dothan, Alabama that's doubling its size and there's one currently in Arkansas.

And so I think what I see the future of mass timber being is that we will build more of these mass timber plants, hopefully one in Georgia soon, that will make this product.

And the more of those that we have, I think the more people will be able to use mass timber in their construction and design and developers are just loving this product.

It's, not only is it sustainable, but it's gorgeous.

- [Sharon] The building goes together like puzzle pieces.

They are all cut to order and lifted into place and designed to fit together perfectly.

This also cuts back on emissions since there isn't a lot of truck traffic and machinery work taking place.

- It's just so gorgeous.

We love the character of southern yellow pine is unlike any of the other mass timber buildings that people are building with.

So if we'd bought, you know, gotten this from Austria or someplace else, it would come as a white wood and it would be very clean and modern looking, which a lot of people like.

But I just love the aesthetic of this just gorgeous southern yellow pine with its really golden grains.

Like everybody is loving that part of it and- - Yeah, that's a what I love.

- experiencing it the most.

- [Sharon] So just gonna leave it unfinished?

- Yeah.

And so like why ruin and spoil greatness?

And so, much like Ponce City Market, it is quirky and it's chippy and the floors squeak and moan.

Like why mess with that?

So yeah, for the building- - But you don't have to put a finish on this?

It's that durable?

- Some people put a finish on it just for protection, but we're gonna let it just be itself.

And we want it to, we think that people, when they touch it and, that's the thing, everybody that comes in the building wants to touch it and feel it.

- Yeah, I did.

- I have a bet with some of my friends that like, people will touch it and feel it like an art museum that you go to with statues.

I think it will patina in certain areas by people touching it over the years.

But I think we just really want embrace that.

- It's so smooth, you know, there's no, aren't any jack, but that's part of the process of- - Yeah, the part of the process.

It's all finished offsite and delivered here like this.

It all comes like a Lego kit, remember.

It's all ready to be preassembled.

So it shows up on site, they put it together just piece after piece after piece, but it is all manufactured offsite ready to go.

- [Sharon] Which brings us back full circle.

I met forest resource consultant Mike Harrell in Pulaski County where a landowner had just harvested trees and seedlings had been planted.

This client spent a little more money because he wanted to plant longleaf pines.

This landowner in particular wanted to bring back things like red-cockaded woodpecker, peppers, and gopher tortoises and indigo snakes.

I mean, was that part of the thinking?

- He wanted to establish a new regime and/or management plan of longleaf and all that that entails with the bio systems underneath it, the wiregrass, certainly I would think gopher tortoises, but the things that associate with a native longleaf wiregrass ecosystem, he's very pro.

- [Sharon] I mean he sells trees to make money, but he is also passionate about planting more trees for the ecosystem.

- [Mike] Correct.

Typically in my job and the clients that we run across, the most diverse group are the non-industrial private landowners who happen to have a legacy of ownership with the family.

They celebrate and have a very passionate love affair with their property.

Their values may not be constrained with maximum economic rotation.

- This is not, I take it, a landowner who would put a bunch of condominiums here.

(laughs) - Don't think so.

Don't think so.

The family who owns this are passionate about wildlife, passionate about longleaf, passionate about togetherness, you know, they come and recreate here, been in the family for a few generations and things that are celebrated that they do, that I don't think the general public by and large has an idea of what the passion it takes to do this.

- I dare say not because I think a lot of people in metro areas just think of, well, trees are in, you know, a national or state forest.

They don't really think about places like this.

How important are places like this?

- They're tremendously important for water, wildlife, and wood.

You know, the lumber that was harvested off of here, trees, pulp, wood, chip-n-saw, sawtimber, all go to build houses in Georgia sustainably.

It is reforested again.

They're gonna get another rotation out of this.

We're protecting the water quality.

These are proven sciences that are done every day in the forest industry that we mitigate some things.

We're taking up carbon.

We're going.

It's a wonderful story.

- [Sharon] This property owner will eventually have a landscape that looks like this.

Longleaf pines used to stretch over more than a thousand miles across the southeast landscape.

Today, 97% of that forest is gone.

The tar and turpentine industry destroyed many of the forests.

Development also took a bite out of the longleaf legacy.

That's why private landowners with a passion for this history are critical to bringing back the trees and the ecosystem they support.

If you look at this private citizen's land by air, it's easy to see there is a lot to love.

And if he needs the money to support any other costs, there are places to cut, and then of course, replant.

- [Mike] I think one of the main things that I see in dealing with private clients is, it's not so much supporting themselves.

They'll forego money for themselves to keep the property intact, to move it forward for future generations, which I think speaks volumes of family forest owners.

They're thinking of not today, but how am I gonna promote my children or grandchildren to learn about this and to have it, you know, work out, and then their grandchildren or children going forward so.

- [Sharon] And I guess that's the thing people have to kind of wrap their heads around is these landowners are in love with their land, so it's not likely that they're gonna do anything to mess it up.

- [Mike] They love showing their property.

That's a passion.

They love managing it.

They celebrate the diversity of it.

And it's just a good thing.

- [Sharon] They planted 726 longleaf trees per acre and they were planted on 53 acres.

That's a lot of trees.

And someday, those little sprouts will look more like this.

The endangered red-cockaded woodpecker prefers this tree and thrives in a forest made up of longleaf pines.

The eastern indigo snake also depends on this type of ecosystem.

It grows up to nine feet and eats venomous snakes so any property owner would be happy to see this guy.

The longleaf ecosystem also supports the gopher tortoise, the only tortoise east of the Mississippi.

It is a keystone species because 350 other species depend on those burrows it digs, including the indigo snake.

So this land was cleared, but its rebirth will go a long way toward bringing back an ecosystem that has been in trouble for decades.

I think this is gonna amaze a lot of people.

- This is a longleaf in the grass stage.

You can see some residual needles from the initial planting.

- Yeah, but you would think that when you plant a tree, I mean, is that one of the unique features of longleaf?

That it's- - Yes.

It is.

It'll look like a bundle of grass and it comes out and you can already see the new needles already.

- Yeah, I can.

They're little babies.

- They're little babies.

So they've already started, we've had adequate moisture, we planted with adequate moisture.

It was planted at the correct depth, it was a container, it hardened off, and now we're starting the growth process.

- [Sharon] It's easy to think of trees as being mainly in state parks or national forests.

In fact, most trees are on private land.

- These are some residual needles from the original plug.

They harden off and kind of turn red.

- [Sharon] When you say a plug, it's just like a container almost?

- It's a plug of almost potting soil with this hanging out the top.

And these are the residual needles.

They kind of turn- - And you got little babies.

- And these are the brand new needles.

So the roots have pushed out and hopefully are taking up nutrients and we're growing.

So, and again, you know, these were some of the needles that were there, but this is gonna be this first little bud right in here on the first year of growth.

- [Sharon] There are a number of reasons building with wood instead of other materials can help reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

According to the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen as they grow.

Carbon is then stored in the wood of the tree.

That carbon stays in the wood until the wood decomposes.

So about half the dry weight of wood is carbon that used to be in the carbon dioxide having a negative impact on our atmosphere.

That includes all things wood: wood pencils, wood flooring, utility poles, and, of course, the buildings under construction.

Would I be correct in saying that the biggest threat to the forestry industry is development?

- Absolutely.

Urbanization has a huge impact on our sector.

While we benefit from being able to sell lumber for parts of that urbanization, at the end of the day, the way we're growing in Georgia is probably not as sustainable as we need it to be.

This stat is about 10 years old or so, but there's about 110,000 acres in the state of Georgia, forest acres, that are converted every year to urban uses.

That's the size of one and a half Clark Counties.

And so if we think that we're paving over, that's converting to urban use, right?

So we're paving over one and a half Clark counties every year.

We can't keep that pace up.

It's very critical that we start thinking a little bit more strategically about how we grow because we need the resources that come from undeveloped land, whether it's farms or whether it's forests.

They sustain our life and we can't pave over everything.

And so that is the single largest threats to the forestry community and the farming community in the state of Georgia.

- German theologian and pastor, Martin Luther, wrote, "For in the nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver."

When you realize all that we get from trees: air, filtered water, homes for us and wildlife, Luther's words ring true.

(bright music) Landowners have the best of both worlds.

They love the beauty of the forest land and then they enjoy the money they make when they sell some of those trees.

I'm Sharon Collins, we'll see you next time.

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