Eric Zuniga, Campus Carrier deputy news editor
Berry has received scrutiny over the timber operations on the college’s vast forest acreage. Some faculty members have raised questions about logging sustainability on college land, criticizing what they call a lack of transparency from administration.
According to Jim Watkins, professor of English, rhetoric and writing, after multiple faculty members raised concerns about Berry’s land use policies in Fall 2022, a committee with five members was formed to look into the issue.
“We asked key players in the Physical Plant and the administration about plans to address some of the things we were looking at, and then we presented a report to the committee,” Watkins said.
The committee heard anecdotal reports of extensive clearcutting on Mountain Campus. While administration confirmed that logging occurs on Berry’s campus, the committee felt too many details were withheld.
“We don’t know how common this is, how extensive it is, how limited or long-term the plan for clear-cutting remains,” Watkins said.
According to Gary Will, assistant vice president for campus safety and land management, the college draws plans for timber operations at the beginning of every fiscal year in July. Will works with Forestry Manager Tim Chesnut to identify tracts of land to open for logging. These tracts are approved by the Board of Trustees.
Depending on the timber market and the tracts’ conditions, the college will authorize either a clearcut or a thinning, according to Chesnut. In a clearcut, all trees in a tract are harvested. A small portion of trees are left in a thinning.
The college contracts its timber operations out to different logging companies. According to Will, although the Land Resource Office will sometimes solicit bids for logging operations, Berry generally relies upon a select set of local loggers.
In a statement to the faculty land use committee, Vice President for Finance Brian Erb indicated the college brings in $250,000 to $400,000 annually in timber revenue.
According to Erb, although replanting and prparation costs of the operations limit profit, the college benefits financially in the long run.
“It’s important to keep rotational harvesting consistent, or we end up losing value [due] to insect damage (beetles), weather, age,” Erb said in his statment to the committee.
About 18,000 acres of land are included in Berry’s forestry management plans. The amount of land a logger can clearcut depends on weather conditions, but Chesnut said that most tracts on Berry’s campus are between 5 and 200 acres. Now, more loggers are operating than usual due to drought conditions.
“Right now, just recently, we had two loggers going,” Chesnut said.
While clearcutting is often necessary to address destructive environmental issues like pine beetle infestations, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Brian Campbell said that Berry should prioritize low-impact practices that minimize clearcutting.
“[Low-impact logging] is more selective logging and low-grading, rather than clear cutting and high grading, and it results in less erosion and need for herbicide applications,” Campbell said in an email.
The faculty committtee felt administration has not adequately confirmed that low-impact methods are being prioritized in Berry’s timber operations.
According to Chesnut, the college is a member of the American Tree Farm System, which prescribes best practices to prevent erosion and damage to soil and watersheds. Berry is currently in the process of renewing certifications for the tree farms it operates.
Chesnut added that both contractors and the college can face penalties from the Georgia Forestry Commission if loggers do not follow state guidelines. Berry also requires that all contractors agree to a bond that they must pay back if they cause environmental damage.
Berry has recently entered a partnership with the Nature Conservancy, an environmental non-profit, to replant clearcut areas. Chesnut said the college aims to replant most clearcut areas with longleaf pine, a native species that is beneficial for the ecosystem.
“We’re not outstripping nature in any way,” Chesnut said. “We’re in concert with it.”
The faculty land use committee in particular raised concerns over Berry’s lack of a land use statement and long-term timber management plan.
“Everything we do should be saying, [our plans are] a model for how we should move forward,” Watkins said.
Chesnut said that he is working with Will on a comprehensive land use and timber management plan.
“The overall theme is that whatever is done is done systematically. Things are not just left alone—cut five trees, plant twenty,” Chesnut said. “We’re working on that. It’s a slow process because I’m constantly getting more data.”
In response to concerns that the college has not adequately kept the community informed about timber operations, the Business and Finance Office has now agreed to meet with a faculty representative to discuss these issues every semester. Watkins said that this is a step in the right direction.
Though Berry administration appears to be addressing recent concerns, some faculty and students feel the college has had a mixed record on environmental issues in the past. Alumna Margaret Ashton (20c), who was a co-president of the organization now known as the Eco Club, felt administration did not involve students and faculty enough in sustainability decisions. Ashton said Berry should form a sustainability office to address these concerns.
“That would be one thing, creating positions for these sorts of people and investing them with some sort of power,” Ashton said.
Faculty members have echoed this sentiment, saying that students, faculty and staff should have more input in Berry’s timber operations. Campbell said there are missed learning opportunities if students are uninvolved.
Watkins said Berry should prioritize sustainability in timber operations to protect invaluable wildlife as well as to preserve an important part of Martha Berry’s legacy.
“This is a precious part of Martha Berry’s legacy that she herself felt strongly about,” Watkins said. “The public needs reassurance that priorities are being given to maintaining environmental sustainability.”