Logging

Political science

Economics

Geography

South carolina

Agricultural economics

Forestry

Public administration

Forest Science

Surveys of logging business owners and managers have been conducted at five-year intervals in Georgia since 1987 and in South Carolina beginning in 2012. The surveys have documented trends in logging businesses and how they respond to changing timber markets. The response rate to the 2017 survey was approximately 20 percent in both states. Eighty-six percent of Georgia and 78 percent of South Carolina logging businesses used feller-buncher/grapple-skidder systems, and 11 percent and 20 percent of businesses owned chippers in Georgia and South Carolina, respectively. Average weekly production in Georgia increased by 95 percent in 1987–2017, but increases in recent years have been modest. The long-term trend in both states is toward fewer, larger businesses. The percentage of annual timber volume harvested by high production logging businesses (> 2,500 tons wk−1) increased from 32 percent in Georgia in 1997 to 63 percent in Georgia and 52 percent in South Carolina in 2017, while the number of logging businesses declined by 34 percent in Georgia and 50 percent in South Carolina. Median owner/manager age was 53 and 57 years in Georgia and South Carolina, respectively, and approximately one-third of respondents were over 60 years of age. Mill quota and trucking/insurance were the most commonly cited challenges facing logging business owners in 2017.

The Evolution of Logging Businesses in Georgia 1987–2017 and South Carolina 2012–2017