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Markets are a challenge in the forest products industry, which trickle down to the small forest landowner. Consulting forester and Louisiana Forestry Association Past President Tim Holland talks about markets, which also was the topic of his Forestry 101 article in the Marsh issue of Forests & People magazine. Slow markets for mills to move their products means less wood going to the mills and fewer trees harvested.

Holland's company is Mudd & Holland Consulting Foresters in Shreveport (https://www.muddandholland.com/).

Minding the Forest is a podcast of the Louisiana Forestry Association and his hosted by LFA Media Specialist Jeff Zeringue. Comments can be sent to [email protected].

If you want to find out more about the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), go to forests.org.

Check out our website at laforestry.com.
Click this link to join the LFA.

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Louisiana Forestry Association Executive Director Buck Vandersteen keeps a keen eye on the Louisiana Legislature whenever it's in session. The 2026 Regular Session began Monday, March 9 and is due to end in June. More than 20 bills filed for the session so far deal with Carbon Dioxide, in some form. And there are many other bills that the Forest Products industry will be following this session. 

Buck also puts out a Legislative Report periodically, sometimes a few times a week, depending on what bills are being heard. If you'd like to get the Legislative Report, send an email to [email protected] and ask that your email be added to the list. 

Minding the Forest is a podcast of the Louisiana Forestry Association and his hosted by LFA Media Specialist Jeff Zeringue. Comments can be sent to [email protected].

If you want to find out more about the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), go to forests.org.

Check out our website at laforestry.com.
Click this link to join the LFA.

Send a text

For more than a decade, Dr. Glen Gentry and a team have been working on a way to curb the population explosion of feral hogs in Louisiana. An example, he said if Louisiana had 1 million feral hogs, 750,000 would have to be eliminated every year to keep the population at 1 million. However promising, the process of getting it approved through the Environmental Protection Agency is still a decade away. Gentry talks about the bait and what is the next phase to get it to market.

You can contact Dr. Gentry at [email protected].

Minding the Forest is a podcast of the Louisiana Forestry Association and his hosted by LFA Media Specialist Jeff Zeringue. Comments can be sent to [email protected].

If you want to find out more about the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), go to forests.org.

Check out our website at laforestry.com.
Click this link to join the LFA.

Send a text

Different species of birds need forests of varying ages to thrive. To talk about that is Emily "EJ" Williams, who recently retired from the American Bird Conservancy as the Southeast Director of Sustainable Forest Partnerships. She's a wildlife biologist with bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Georgia. While at the American Bird Conservancy, she worked "to stop the decline of migratory birds and enable conservation throughout their life cycle, according the conservancy's website, abcbirds.org. Because she is now retired, we don't have an email to share, but you can check out the American Bird Conservancy website above and find out more.

Minding the Forest is a podcast of the Louisiana Forestry Association and his hosted by LFA Media Specialist Jeff Zeringue. Comments can be sent to [email protected].

If you want to find out more about the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), go to forests.org.

Check out our website at laforestry.com.
Click this link to join the LFA.

Send a text

Geologist Corey Shircliff works for Cavern Solutions in Baton Rouge and was a guest speaker at the LFA's convention in August 2025. A former state employee who worked with permitting wells in Louisiana, she has great knowledge about the new permits concerning Class VI wells that allow for injection of CO2 underground. This subject is topical in forestry as some companies looking to turn wood into biofuels would use residuals and small-diameter wood — pulpwood — such as paper mills used. Because of the decline of paper mills in Louisiana, the new biofuels industry could be a way landowners could get thinning performed, allowing their forests to grow larger wood for sawmills, but also it would help in the sustainable forestry cycle so that forests are healthier.

Ms. Shircliff can be reached by email at [email protected].

Minding the Forest is a podcast of the Louisiana Forestry Association and his hosted by LFA Media Specialist Jeff Zeringue. Comments can be sent to [email protected].

If you want to find out more about the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), go to forests.org.

Check out our website at laforestry.com.
Click this link to join the LFA.

Send a text

Beaver Lake Renewable Energy is working toward building a biofuel facility in Rapides Parish at the former site of an IP paper mill. The plant will use about the same amount of pulpwood as the old mill, as well as residuals. Dan LeFevers, vice president, external affairs for Beaver Lake, talks about the facility and the challenges the company has experienced. Construction is hoped to begin next year.

LeFevers' contact is [email protected]

Find out more about the project at www.beaverlakerenewable.com.

Minding the Forest is a podcast of the Louisiana Forestry Association and his hosted by LFA Media Specialist Jeff Zeringue. Comments can be sent to [email protected].

If you want to find out more about the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), go to forests.org.

Check out our website at laforestry.com.
Click this link to join the LFA.

Send a text

Paul Stone is a conservation and senior forester for Crosby Resource Management based in DeRidder, Louisiana. He also is the chairman of the Endangered Species Committee for the Louisiana Forestry Association. Paul gives us an update on what is happening in that area. The red cockaded woodpecker has been down listed to threatened, for example, and the Monarch butterfly is under consideration to be added to the list of Endangered Species. 

If you'd like to reach out to Paul, you can contact him here: [email protected]

Minding the Forest is a podcast of the Louisiana Forestry Association and his hosted by LFA Media Specialist Jeff Zeringue. Comments can be sent to [email protected].

If you want to find out more about the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), go to forests.org.

Check out our website at laforestry.com.
Click this link to join the LFA.

Send a text

Brooks Mendell, CEO of Forisk Consulting, was guest speaker at the 78th annual convention of the Louisiana Forestry Association and took time to talk about the state of the forestry industry in Louisiana and the South. His research and insight gives us a good snapshot of the forest products industry in 2025 and what we can hope for in the coming year. 

Forisk Consulting website — https://forisk.com/

Contact Forish — https://forisk.com/contact/

A video of Mendell's presentation at the LFA's 78th annual convention will be posted on the association's website by Oct. 1 and will be available for LFA members only.

Minding the Forest is a podcast of the Louisiana Forestry Association and his hosted by LFA Media Specialist Jeff Zeringue. Comments can be sent to [email protected].

If you want to find out more about the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), go to forests.org.

Check out our website at laforestry.com.
Click this link to join the LFA.

Send a text

Dave Cupp has been a forester in Louisiana for more than 40 years, 30 of which he's worked for Walsh Timber Co. He has always maintained good relationships with Loggers and of late has served as Vice President of the American Loggers Council (ALC). This year he is set to take the reins of the ALC as its president when the organization that represents loggers in 47 states across the United States holds its convention in Lafayette, Louisiana. Dave talks about the importance of loggers to the industry and the hope for new markets to help the forest products industry as a whole. 

Loggers who want to find out more about the national ALC convention can go to www.americanloggerscouncil.com/events. 

If you want to contact Dave, you can reach out to him by email at  [email protected]

Minding the Forest is a podcast of the Louisiana Forestry Association and his hosted by LFA Media Specialist Jeff Zeringue. Comments can be sent to [email protected].

If you want to find out more about the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), go to forests.org.

Check out our website at laforestry.com.
Click this link to join the LFA.

Send a text

State Rep. Jack McFarland is a Master Logger from Winnfield, the only logger in the Louisiana Legislature, giving his colleagues a different perspective of the forest products industry. Jack gives us an update on what happened in the Legislature that affects loggers and the rest of the industry.

Minding the Forest is a podcast of the Louisiana Forestry Association and his hosted by LFA Media Specialist Jeff Zeringue. Comments can be sent to [email protected].

If you want to find out more about the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), go to forests.org.

Check out our website at laforestry.com.
Click this link to join the LFA.