The Georgia Forestry Commission is hosting a series of meetings in Southeast Georgia this week to help timber growers effected by this year's wildfires.
The losses are staggering. An estimated $30 million worth of commercial timber went up in smoke this spring when wildfires scorched hundreds of square-miles of dried out forest. About 300 growers are now calculating their losses. Most of them don't have insurance.
Meetings scheduled for this week in Waycross, Jesup and Statesboro will put growers in touch with programs that could cover as much as 70% of replanting costs. Georgia Forestry Commissioner Robert Farris says, "Those programs can help the landowner cover the cost of preparing the property, site preparing the lands for replanting, along with actual planting costs and the seedling cost."
The meetings will offer information about tax credits and free forestry management advice. The Commission also is opening an office for timber recovery in Waycross.
The losses are staggering. An estimated $30 million worth of commercial timber went up in smoke this spring when wildfires scorched hundreds of square-miles of dried out forest. About 300 growers are now calculating their losses. Most of them don't have insurance.
Meetings scheduled for this week in Waycross, Jesup and Statesboro will put growers in touch with programs that could cover as much as 70% of replanting costs. Georgia Forestry Commissioner Robert Farris says, "Those programs can help the landowner cover the cost of preparing the property, site preparing the lands for replanting, along with actual planting costs and the seedling cost."
The meetings will offer information about tax credits and free forestry management advice. The Commission also is opening an office for timber recovery in Waycross.
