Forest-related industries still in a slump

West Virginia’s farms and forests took center stage Tuesday at the state Capitol. It was Agriculture and Forestry day at the Legislature.

Dick Waybright, the Executive Director of the West Virginia Forestry Association, says it’s been a rough several years for forest industries.

“The challenge right now is the [forestry] economy. It’s been in a slump for the last three years,” according to Waybright. “So we’ve had a real tough time with the housing market dropping nationwide.”

Trees cover 80-percent of the state. West Virginia wood isn’t used just here at home, but across the country. Forestry-related businesses bring in $4-billion in revenue to the state each year. However, the struggling economy hurts business.

“If people aren’t building new houses or buying new houses then they’re not buying new furniture and they’re not putting new flooring down, they’re not putting new trim up,” says Waybright.

Waybright estimates they’ve lost 10,000 forestry-related jobs in the past three years. That’s been spread out around the state.

“Forestry is the one natural resource business you’ll find in every county in West Virginia.”

He says at some point the economy will turn around and West Virginia might not have the forestry workforce in place to meet demand.

“If and when the industry really starts to fire back up, those companies are gone. So we’ve got to go out and get some new loggers to come back and replace those people,” stresses Waybright.

The Legislature honored several loggers for their safety records during the floor session and they introduced the state tree farmer of the year.