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DIRECTOR’S NOV/DEC 2018

MESSAGE Executive Director
Tommy Carroll

Weathering the Storms

The year 2018 will be remembered as a time of histor- condition. If you received a sur-
ical significance in many ways for logging companies vey, please fill it out and return.
and their respective families and employees. A year If any assistance can be acquired, there must be infor-
that has been stormy from both a political and natural mation to provide to government agencies or other
disaster perspective. As I write this article almost two groups that may help. While all parties seem to put
weeks after the November 6 general election three emphasis on replacing the timber, the SWPA is con-
key political offices have finally been officially called. cerned about its members and their ability to con-
However, there are still many questions about the fu- tinue to harvest timber now and into the future.
ture of Georgia and Florida politics resulting from With many logging companies already struggling due
seemingly corrupt elections and extremely close to market conditions and insurance costs, it is ex-
races. Although all political offices are important, the
three most significant this election were the gover- tremely important to communicate with your associa-
tion. The SWPA was created by loggers to serve
nors’ races and Florida’s United States senate seat.
loggers. Overcoming these challenges will take time
Despite the delays on voting counts and by very nar- but success is more likely if we work together with
row margins the conservatives held on. Georgia’s new common strategies in getting more political attention
governor will be Brian Kemp and Ron DeSantis will as- on the logging and transportation segment of the for-
sume Florida’s governor’s position. Rick Scott de- est products industry.
feated long time liberal Bill Nelson the become Pam and I are always available to assist in any way possible.
Florida’s United State’s senator giving the republicans
a slight majority over the democrats in the senate. Don’t forget to check out the SWPA website at swpa.ag for
resources you can use in your business. There is
While there is time for a brief celebration, the rural
conservatives need to start planning now for the 2020 strength in numbers also. The website provides the
SWPA leadership and backgrounds of the men and
election. Rest assured the liberals almost took this women who devote and donate their time and re-
election, and they will only grow more confident
about winning in two years. sources to be sure all loggers have a seat at the table.

While enduring the political storm, many Floridians
and Georgians faced another storm named Hurricane tough times never last
Michael. This monstrous weather event came on sud-
denly and has been recorded as one of the worst nat- but
ural disasters to hit both states. More on specific damages
can be read in the following articles by the Georgia Forestry tough
Commission and Florida Forest Service. people

The SWPA has reached out to affected logging compa- do
nies in the stricken areas with a survey to gather Robert H Schuller
first hand information about their current and future

Tommy Carroll is the Executive Director of the Southeastern Wood Producers Association, Inc., which represents logging professionals in
Georgia and Florida. The SWPA Inc is headquartered in Hilliard, Florida. For more information please contact us at (904) 845-7133 or you may contact Tommy
directly at (478) 952-2809. website: www.swpa.ag Tommy’s email: tcarroll@swpa.ag
Vol 29 Issue 4 2018 l SWPA Out of the Woods l swpa.ag l 3