Category Archives: Forestry

Open House at Mildred Hunter on Common Community Vision @ VLMPO 2013-10-23

“We have broadband”, said Bill Slaughter, while other people had
different opinions on that and other topics Wednesday night at
the Mildred Hunter Community Center.



Corey Hull introduced the session and a small but vocal group of citizens
discussed all

the main topic headings.
He noted that there are more than twelve plans already in place
in the various cities and counties in the Valdosta Lowndes Metropolitan
Planning Area.
Yet there were many common themes in those plans, and VLMPO was looking
for other common areas in these meetings and online,
and more specifically strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
If you have a community group of any size, VLMPO can come talk to it.
They’ve been to the Chamber, to Rotary, to churches, etc.
They expect to wrap this process up in December,
with common vision and goals for the next ten or twenty years.


Matt Martin
Local officials present included Matt Martin,

Planning and Zoning Administrator for the City of Valdosta,
and Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter.
Martin didn’t say much, but Bill Slaughter was quite vocal.
I thanked him for speaking up, even though I didn’t agree with everything he said.
He helped clarify current county codes for stormwater retention,
and Martin helped clarify the city’s codes.

As a long-time participant in
local development (he’s CEO of Waller Heating and Air)
Slaughter said when people are buying houses all they look at is Continue reading →

Common Community Vision for Lowndes County



What do you the citizens want Lowndes County to be?
Here’s a chance to speak up, so when somebody asks where were you when
the decisions were being made, you don’t have to answer “lying on the couch
watching television.” (Thanks to Nolen Cox for that phrase.)

Corey Hull wrote on facebook today,

Help Spread the Word for the Future of Lowndes County,

My office is conducting a survey and gathering public input on
Facebook (go to

www.facebook.com/valdostalowndesmpo) about what they
want the Lowndes County Common Community Vision to be


(
www.bit.ly/LowndesCCV). So far our participation has been low. I am
calling on all of you to encourage your friends, family and
colleagues to spread the word and let us know what you think about
the future of Lowndes County and its cities.

Over the next two months there will be future opportunities for
public input so stay tuned.

Thanks for your help.

On the Southern Georgia Regional Commission’s website,

Lowndes County Common Community Vision, Continue reading →

VDT starts to catch up about pipeline



Spectra used

Dougherty County Commissioner Ewell Lyle’s question
in answer the Valdosta Daily Times about that natural gas pipeline
from Alabama to Florida.
And notice how they’re saying Tallapoosa County, Alabama now, and not
mentioning

PCB-polluted Anniston, Alabama as the source of the pipeline?
The VDT map conveniently clips Alabama completely out of the picture.
How about we clip Georgia out of the pipeline and install solar power instead?

Matthew Woody wrote on the front page of the VDT today,

Pipeline intersects area:
Sabal Trail project runs from Alabama to Florida,



Andrea Grover, Public Affairs Representative from Spectra Energy,
said that initially the pipe was going to be a closed system, but
Spectra Energy decided to turn the pipe into an “open access
pipe,” meaning that any area along the pipe could potentially
tap into the system to either receive gas from or supply gas to the
pipeline. Describing the pipeline as a highway, Grover said it will
have on-ramps and off-ramps. They provide the transportation of the
gas, and once the pipe is in service, communities are encouraged to
work with Sabal.

Dougherty County Commissioner Ewell Lyle

suggested letting locals tap it
less than a week ago.

Note that weasel word: “potentially”.
I could “potentially” tap into the two (2) pipelines that
cross my property, but decades they’ve been there and that’s never happened.

When asked about the benefits of the pipe, Grover stated, Continue reading →

UK biomass plant exploded from Waycross wood pellets

Explosions in Tilbury, England, explosions in Waycross:
south Georgia wood pellet dust blowing up here and there and
producing CO2 when burned there.
Why is
“the world’s largest wood pellet plant”
a better use of Georgia foresters’ resources than solar farms,
which don’t pollute and don’t explode?



Josh Schlossberg wrote for The Biomass Monitor 24 May 2013,

Biomass Industry Plays With Fire, Gets Burned,

A massive fire raged inside wood pellet silos for RWE’s Tilbury
Power Station in Essex, UK, on February 27, 2012. The biomass
incinerator—the largest in the world at 750
megawatts—had just been converted from coal to woody biomass a
month earlier. RWE claims no single cause can be attributed to the
fire, but suspects that smoldering wood pellets triggered the dust
fire.



In a recent editorial (apparently not online),

Robert Farris
Executive Director of the

Georgia Forestry Commission,
wrote that Georgia has nine wood pellet plants.
He didn’t name them, but
Biomass Magazine has
a list of U.S. wood pellet plants,
including these in Georgia (I added the City column): Continue reading →

Earth Day at the Lowndes County Courthouse @ LCC 2013-04-09



11AM this morning the County will plant three hardwood trees
where the Annex was at the historic Lowndes County Courthouse.

At the

9 April 2013 Regular Session,

The Chairman announced that at 11AM on Earth Day, Monday 22 April 2013,

over at the historical Courthouse square,
Lowndes County Board of Commissioners and Lowndes County Public Works Department
will plant three trees that are native to south Georgia
in celebrating a three-day free-to-the-public electronic recycling event.
The public is welcome.
And I’d like to also recognize at this time special thanks to Advanced Disposal
and Yancey Caterpillar for helping with the funding of this event.

What we’re doing is at the request of the Committee for the Preservation
of the Courthouse.
The scene around the Courthouse as you see it now
the Annex has come off.
There is sod down at this point.
We’re going to add three more trees on that, which would be the north side
of the Courthouse.
It would be three different species of hardwood trees.
And when that is completed, we should have a sample of each hardwood
tree that is representative of south Georgia around the perimeter of the
Courthouse.

So it’s going to be really nice, and it will still allow us to
be able to use that green space and all right there for some events and such as that,
for Farm Days and what have you.
So if you do have it, put it on your calendar, take the opportunity to come
out and enjoy the morning with us as we plant those three trees.

There’s no press release about this on the Lowndes County website.
Buried in

their calendar there is this blurb: Continue reading →

Forest Bioenergy Conference —GFA

Seen Monday.
Seems to me that instead of burning trees
tree farmers should start growing solar farms
on some of their less useful land.


Forest Bioenergy Conference —GFA



Deadline for early registration is Sunday, February 10…register
today to save money!

It’s 21 February 2013 in Forsyth.

Interest in forest biomass as a potential feedstock for renewable
energy facilities has been especially keen for the past several
years and much of the activity has been centered in Georgia. GFA and
UGA are excited about hosting our fourth biennial conference to
examine where we are with forest bioenergy development in Georgia
and where we may be going in the near future. While many issues are
becoming clearer, much uncertainty remains with regard to government
policy and market prices for fossil fuels. This conference is an
excellent opportunity to hear from some of the players on the front
lines of developing markets, influencing government policies, and
conducting research on how these changes may impact our wood supply
system.

These are some of the topics that will be addressed during this
conference by many of the people directly involved with these
changes that are taking place in our state. Join us and stay abreast
of these significant changes taking place in our forest industry.

The talk I think they should pay attention to is:

What does Low-Cost Natural Gas Mean for Future Biomass Use?

Continue reading →

Reconsider Chaste trees: try native bottlebrush buckeye


Karan Rawlins
I spoke to Karan Rawlins of the
Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health
(bugwood.org)
at the

SoGa Growing Local & Sustainable Conference
in Tattnall County 26 January 2013 (coming to Lowndes County next year).


A Homeowner s Guide to Preventing the Introduction and Spread of Invasive Plants in Georgia
At the mention of

Chaste Tree, she picked up a copy of
A Homeowner’s Guide to Preventing the Introduction and Spread of Invasive Plants in Georgia,
and turned to page 6, which says:

Continue reading →

Tree Commission offers Chaste trees wholesale


Tree Commission offers Chaste trees wholesale
The Valdosta Tree Commission is offering Chaste trees
“to citizens at wholesale prices with the hopes of planting 100 trees in the city limits”, but this may actually be a bad idea, since this
species is exotic, does not support local insects and birds,
and in Texas has become invasive.

The Tree Commission’s writeup says this tree:

“has no serious pest problems and attract butterflies to the garden.”


Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, by Douglas Tallamy
That first phrase is a red flag after reading

Dr. Douglas Tallamy’s book, Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants.
Local insects mostly cannot eat exotic plants,
and local birds eat local insects, so planting exotic trees
may look good, but is not helpful to native insects and birds.
Yes, Chaste trees may attract some butterflies,
but how many, compared to native trees?
And “no serious pest problems” means not many native insects munching
on the leaves or stems of the tree.

So what to plant instead?
See
next post.

The City of Valdosta posted PR 3 January 2013,

VTC Offers Chaste Trees at Wholesale Prices to Encourage Tree Planting,

Continue reading →

Forestry rebounds economically in Georgia


Figure 4. Year-to-year percentage change in total output, employment, and compensation supported by the forest industry in 2011 dollars.
Found via
VLCIA’s blog,
PR from Office of the Governor 11 January 2013,

Forestry industry earns jobs, dollars for Georgia,
illustrated here with figures from

Economic Benefits of the Forest Industry in Georgia: 2011
by the Georgia Forestry Commission.
And let’s not forget that while paper pulp rules the roost
in Georgia at the moment, there are



far more jobs in reforestation than in nuclear,
even more than in wind or solar.

Gov. Nathan Deal today announced that a study by the Georgia
Institute of Technology for the Georgia Forestry Commission shows
that in 2011, economic activity generated by the forestry industry
topped $25 billion in output and provided 118,459 jobs.

“I am proud to see our state retain its position as a national
forestry leader,” said Deal. “Our 24 million acres of
forests are one of Georgia’s most valuable natural resources, and
the dedication of the men and women in the forestry community drive
that success. I’m confident our sustainably grown forests will be
providing both economic and environmental benefits for generations
of Georgians to come.”

Highlights of the “Economic Benefits of the Forest Industry in
Georgia: 2011” report include

Continue reading →

Rezoning near Moody: fire code would prohibit a single entrance @ LCC 2012-12-10 @ LCC 2012-12-10



Commissioner Crawford Powell may have found solid grounds to deny
the proposed rezoning for a development near Moody AFB,
he revealed at

this morning’s Work Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

County Planner Jason Davenport explicitly linked this rezoning case,

7.a. REZ-2012-17 Lowndes Development, LLC, Davidson Rd MAZ II and MAZ III to R-10, County Water & Sewer, ~23.49 acres

to

the zoning text code amendment on the same meeting agenda.

7.d. TXT-2012-02 MAZ II Residential Density

He also mentioned the TRC (the Technical Review Committee
composed mainly of Lowndes County and Valdosta staff) had a split vote
on this item, although
he didn’t say how it was split.
And he said the Commissioners had the Planning Commission recommendation
before them,
although he didn’t mention the Planning Commission recommended against.

Commissioner Crawford Powell brought up a good point:

The fire department and the TRC say in the notes
that it fails to comply with fire rescue ingress-egress requirements.

Fire Chief Guyton appeared to confirm that was the case,
although since he wasn’t at a microphone, it’s hard to hear.
Commissioner Powell continued:

Continue reading →