Fall 2025 Market Collapse Response Meeting

The Forest Landowners Association is the only national representative of the economic interests of family forest landowners and their unique natural resource assets. They are active in regards to advocacy regarding private property rights, taxation, profitability and sustainability of the private landowners in the US. For more information go to: https://forestlandowners.com

K&L Forest Nursery, centered in Buena Vista, Georgia, produces around 30-32 million loblolly and slash pine seedlings for out planting annually in five Southeastern States. They are known for their seedling quality and above average customer service and satisfaction.

The Forest Owners Research & Technology Exchange focuses on completing operational research centered around increasing the production and value of our Southeastern US Forests. Members include large, medium and small sized forest landowners; forestry contractors; mill owners and others in the broad Forest Sector.

Auburn University’s College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment has a three-pronged mission: To Instruct, to Complete Research, and to Extend Knowledge. They attract and educate undergraduate/graduate students for professional employment, career development, and responsible citizenship through degree programs in the fundamental and applied principles relevant to the management and conservation of renewable natural resources. They encourage and facilitate inquiry into fundamental and applied research questions relevant to management and utilization of the renewable natural resources of the state, region, nation and world. They also develop and deliver effective Extension and Outreach programs that are responsive to the natural resources related needs of professionals, landowners, industry and citizens of the state, region, nation and world.

Our speakers / panelists:

Adam O. Maggard is an Extension Specialist, and the Harry E. Murphy Endowed Associate Professor in the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment at Auburn University. Dr. Maggard is a 2015 graduate of Oklahoma State University where he received his PhD in natural resource ecology and management. He also has master’s degrees in business management from the University of Florida and natural resource ecology and management from Oklahoma State University. He specializes in financial and economic aspects of forest management and planning, multiple-use management and sustainability, productivity of managed forest stands, business planning and management of timber and non-timber forest products. In addition, he teaches courses in forest management, forest economics, and leadership.

Scott Jones joined the Forest Landowners Association in 2003 and has a Bachelor of Science degree in forest resources from the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia and has been a SAF Certified Forester as well as a Georgia Registered Forester.  Scott was recognized as a Distinguished Young Alumni of the Warnell School and was the first graduate of the program to receive the 40 under 40 award from the UGA Alumni Association.  Scott brings a diverse background of forest land management, procurement, land ownership, and advocacy at the state, national and international levels to FLA.  Scott serves on the Standards Committee for the Sustainable Biomass Program based in Hamburg Germany and is a member of the Advisory Committee on Sustainable Forest-based Industries of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome Italy.  With 20 years as the CEO of the Forest Landowners Association, Scott is well versed in advocating on issues of importance to private forest landowners that help them access markets and preserve property rights that will sustain the next generation of forest landowners.

T. R. Clark serves as Regional Manager of the LaFayette, Alabama office serving clients in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. T.R. is a registered forester in Georgia and Alabama. He is also certified as an American Tree Farm System Qualified Inspector and an Alabama Certified Prescribed Burn Manager. Additionally, he holds real estate licenses as an Alabama Qualifying Broker and a Georgia Real Estate Salesperson. Before joining F&W in 2003, T.R. earned a Bachelor of Science in Forest Management from North Carolina State University in 2000. T.R. is highly active in several forestry organizations. He is currently serving as the Secretary and Treasurer of the Association of Consulting Foresters Alabama Chapter, National Executive Committee member of the Association of Consulting Foresters and a member of the Georgia Forestry Association. He has served as a Board Member of the Alabama Forestry Association.

Jay Chup s a Registered Forester in Georgia and a graduate of the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forest Resources, where he earned a Master’s degree in Forest Business. Jay began his career at F&W Forestry Services, Inc., where he spent nine years as a planning analyst before moving into a sales role with IFCO Seedlings. In 2021, Jay acquired Specialty Outdoor Services in Leesburg, Georgia—one of southwest Georgia’s leading reforestation contractors. He has since rebranded and expanded the business into Specialty Reforestation, Inc. and Specialty Drone Spraying LLC, while also serving as a partner in Guest Forestry Services LLC. Jay is passionate about sustainable forest management, reforestation, and the integration of technology in forestry operations. He lives in Albany, Georgia with his wife Ivy and their two sons, Colson and Hudson.

John. Britt is a consulting forester who helps individual and institutional forest landowners meet their varied and multiple forestland ownership objectives. Prior to establishing John Britt & Associates, John spent over eighteen years with forest industry working on company and individually owned lands. John Britt & Associates provides a wide range of timber management services from regeneration to harvest and other forest management services to enhance the non-timber related benefits that you want to enjoy on your property. John is a forester with degrees from Clemson and Auburn Universities and is renowned for his expertise in forest regeneration and timber productivity improvement. During John’s career with forest industry he conducted applied research on the use of herbicides, seedling quality, and spatial arrangement of seedlings during planting. John lives in Harris County, Georgia and has held appointments to the County Planning Commission and the State Board of Registration for Foresters.

Ken and Lucas Singleton operate K&L Forest Nursery on Highway 41 South in Buena Vista, Georgia. Ken and wife Lehanne started this business in 1998 growing just 7 million seedlings per year. Today they produce 30-32 million seedlings annually. Their bareroot seedlings go out to landowners and tree planting customers in five states. All seedlings are hand lifted and packed. The Singletons have grown a strong reputation for seedling quality and customer service!

Eric Whatley is the Forest Operations Manager for Burgin Timberland in Cuthbert, Georgia. Eric completed a Masters of Forest Resources in Forest Business from the University of Georgia in 2018, after completing a Bachelors of Science Degree in Forestry at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia in 2017. Working with Burgin Timberland, he has played a key role in implementing progressive forest management across their growing land base. Eric, through Burgin Timberland, is an active member of the Forest Productivity Cooperative and the Tree Improvement Program.

Derek Dougherty serves as the Director for the Forest Owners Research and Technology Exchange. Derek obtained a Bachelor of Science in Forest Resources with a focus in Forest Business in 1993 and a PhD in Forest Resources with a focus on loblolly pine silviculture and genetics in 2018, both from the University of Georgia. Derek is a Registered Forester in multiple southern states and has worked to implement progressive forestry management for landowners and investors across the Southeastern US. Derek has extensive experience in the establishment, maintenance, and measurement of silviculture and genetic research trials. He is active in loblolly and longleaf orchard management with GenTreeXT, LLC and Windy Ridge Longleaf, LLC. Derek is a real estate broker in GA and the Carolinas. In 2010-2011 Derek served as President of the Forest Landowners. Derek is a past recipient of the Young Forest Landowner Award and the SAF Field Forester Award.

Phil Dougherty currently manages tree breeding and orchard management activities at GenTreeXT, LLC. Phil obtained a B.S. in Wildlife Science from Texas A&M University, an M.S. in Tree Physiology from Texas A&M, and a Ph.D. in Forest Ecophysiology from the University of Missouri. His career includes positions as a Regeneration Ecologist with Weyerhaeuser in Centralia, WA; a Forestry Research Station Manager for Weyerhaeuser in Wright City, OK; Associate Professor of Forestry, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA; Tree Physiologist and Team Leader Global Change with the USDA Forest Service in RTP, North Carolina; Ecophysiologist/Plantation Productivity Project Leader/Pine Development, MeadWestvaco Forest Science & Technology, Summerville, SC; and Senior Scientist  Advanced Sales and Silvicultural Systems Dev. for Arborgen.  Phil has coauthored more than 50 Journal Articles related to silviculture and ecophysiology and is co-editor of the Forest Regeneration Manual.