A common question in our timber industry is whether the rising demand for wood pellets impacts our soils and water quality differently than traditional pulpwood harvesting. A recent study in the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (Bays et al., 2026) led by the Center for Forest Business evaluated BMP effectiveness for pellet harvests at 75 sites across the SE Coastal Plain. The study confirmed that our current forestry BMPs are sufficient to protect our natural resources and that the southeastern US wood pellet industry is operating sustainably within established environmental frameworks.
12.10.2025
Cut-to-Length Harvesting: When it Works and What’s Holding It Back
A recent scientific review by Bolding et al. highlights the evolution of cut-to-length (CTL) harvesting systems and why their adoption outside Scandinavia remains limited. Despite advanced features including optimized bucking, GIS-based harvest planning and mapping, machine-to-machine communication, and LiDAR-assisted thinning, CTL faces hurdles in regions like the US South where full-tree systems dominate.
06.01.2025
Is Wood Pellet Harvesting Sustainable? New Research Says Yes.
With the southeastern U.S. supplying over 80% of America’s wood pellets—most of which are exported to Europe—questions about the sustainability of pellet feedstock harvesting are more relevant than ever.
05.06.2025
Evaluating the Environmental Impact of Pellet Feedstock Harvesting in the Southeastern U.S.
A new study by UGA researchers compared 67 harvest sites across the southeastern U.S. to evaluate whether wood pellet feedstock harvesting differs from conventional pulpwood operations in terms of soil disturbance, ground cover, and wildlife habitat.
04.23.2025
Smarter Forest Planning with Heuristic Optimization
Forest managers face a complex puzzle: how to schedule timber harvests that are profitable, sustainable, and legally compliant. Traditional planning methods can be slow and rigid, but threshold accepting, a powerful heuristic optimization technique, can be designed to generate high-quality harvest schedules quickly.
03.05.2025
Modernizing Machine Cost Estimation for Logging Equipment in the Southeast
If you’re in the forest industry, you’ve probably used—or at least heard of—the machine-rate method for estimating equipment costs. UGA researchers recently updated the costs for the first time in 20 years.
Professor, Landscape Planning and Harvest Scheduling
Leon "Buddy" Hargreaves Jr. Distinguished Professor in Forest Management
Associate Dean for Research; Professor and Langdale Endowed Chair in Forest Business
Associate Professor of Forest Operations
