CHARLOTTESVILLE—The Virginia Wood Council is bringing together stakeholders to help find solutions for forest markets struggling with emerging challenges.
The Virginia Wood Council held its first meeting in September with industry associations, partners and state agencies, including Virginia Farm Bureau, the Virginia Forestry Association, Virginia Loggers Association, Virginia Forest Products Association, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, loggers, sawmill owners and product makers.
“The plan is to understand all the emerging forest product industry issues, and figure out what’s causing them,” explained Sabina Dhungana, Virginia Department of Forestry utilization and marketing program manager.
Forestry is the state’s third leading industry with an annual economic impact of more than $23 billion, employing more than 108,000 people, and helping reforest millions of acres across the state.
Forest landowners, foresters, loggers, timber buyers and other forestry professionals work together to ensure a steady, renewable stream of valuable timber resources—harvested for lumber, paper, electricity and more.
“Sustainability is a big thing we can be proud about,” Dhungana noted. “We grow way more than we harvest on an annual basis, we have all these best management practices in place, and we are one of the unique states that has a water quality program.”
Patrick Murphy, a Virginia Farm Bureau Federation board member, helps protect, preserve and sustain Virginia’s forests as a longtime county forester—helping fellow timberland owners optimize their resources.
“Reforestation is a great investment,” he remarked. “It helps keep your land productive and working, and depending on what methods are used to prepare the land prior to tree planting or improve the land after planting, we have cost-share programs available through the Virginia Department of Forestry to help offset some of those costs.”
The Reforestation of Timberlands Program, managed by the VDOF, provides cost-share assistance to landowners for pine reforestation and is funded by the Virginia Forest Products Tax with matching funds from the state’s General Fund.
From 1970 to 2020, Virginia’s forest industry invested more than $54.5 million toward growing trees on private lands.
When combined with the General Assembly’s match, more than 51,000 harvested tracts covering nearly 2 million acres have been reforested in Virginia.
Timber is harvested for construction, furniture and building materials for domestic and international markets. But trade disputes, housing market challenges, and globalization of manufacturing and labor are sowing uncertainty throughout the industry.
“We’ve had about 10-15 primary hardwood mill closures in the last three to four years,” Dhungana said. Meanwhile, ongoing forest fragmentation and logger shortages are concerning Murphy and others in Southside Virginia.
Dhungana added that many Virginia mills are “mom-and-pops,” and owners may be reluctant to pass on debt and risk to their children—posing transition issues.
“It’s a very hard and risky business,” she said. “If we keep losing mills, forest management sustainability in Virginia will be super hard—if not impossible.”
She encourages consumers to buy local wood products, and reach out to the VDOF for more information on where to find materials.
-Virginia Farm Bureau