Empowering People and Preserving Landscapes Through Innovation and Collaboration
Laura Calandrella is a Sustainability Strategy who has worked for the past 20 years to drive environmental impact through collaborative innovation.
Calandrella’s partners range from communities in the Brazilian Amazon to executives in a corporate boardroom, addressing the wildfire crisis, using urban agriculture to overcome food insecurity, addressing climate change and conserving forests by growing markets for the private landowners who steward them.
Bethaney Wilkinson
Executive Director, Sustainable Forestry & African American Land Retention
Bethaney Wilkinson
Executive Director, Sustainable Forestry & African American Land Retention
Bethaney Wilkinson is a social entrepreneur, facilitator, and author of The Diversity Gap. As Executive Director of the Sustainable Forestry & African American Land Retention Network, she brings over a decade of experience at the intersection of community, racial wellbeing, and social change. She’s the founder of multiple initiatives and holds degrees from Emory and Fuller Theological Seminary.
Ongeleigh Underwood is Executive Director of the Appalachian Carbon Exchange, leading efforts to expand climate resilience and carbon market access in Central Appalachia. With a background in environmental justice and community development, she champions equitable, climate-smart solutions that empower rural communities and landowners while advancing sustainability and regional collaboration across the Appalachian landscape.
Troy Harris
Managing Director, Timberland and Innovative Wood Products, Jamestown LLC
Troy Harris is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in public and institutional investing, portfolio management, and land transactions across the U.S. and Brazil. A leader in sustainable forestry, he’s a passionate advocate for mass timber. He’s currently helping develop Atlanta’s first southern yellow pine mass timber building with the “Seedlings to Solutions” team.
John Mulcahy is Vice President of Stewardship at Georgia-Pacific, leading company-wide sustainability efforts, including sustainable forestry and customer collaboration. Since joining GP in 1987, he has held key roles in business development and sustainability. John serves on several conservation boards and is passionate about environmental stewardship. He holds degrees from Lafayette College and Georgia State University.
A diverse panel of forest leaders—including Laura Calandrella (Keeping Forests), Bethaney Wilkinson (Sustainable Forestry and African American Land Retention), Ongeleigh Underwood (Appalachian Carbon Exchange), Troy Harris (Jamestown LLC) and John Mulcahy (Georgia Pacific)—explored how the future of Southern forests depends on rethinking traditional approaches to land ownership, forest management and innovation. Together, they offered a compelling case for why forest conservation must be rooted not only in ecological science but also in trust-based partnerships, inclusive economic models and forward-looking product innovation.
Forests as Climate Assets—and Economic Lifelines
Southern forests have long proven themselves to be climate allies, with the region maintaining stable forest acreage despite explosive growth in population and GDP. As one panelist emphasized, this is a sustainability success story—but one now under threat. With 23 million acres projected to be lost to development by 2060, the key threat is not the forest industry but the absence of viable economic alternatives for landowners.
Ensuring forests remain financially valuable is no longer optional—it’s a critical conservation strategy.
One speaker demonstrated this with a project that used Georgia-grown wood in a mass timber construction effort, cutting embodied emissions by 70%. This “farm-to-table” building not only launched the state’s first mass timber carbon credit but also showcased how forest product innovation can link local landowners, sustainable harvesting, and climate-forward construction in a mutually reinforcing system.
Landowners Need More Than Markets—They Need Support
A central theme raised by multiple panelists was the complexity faced by small landowners. Many manage fewer than 100 acres and deal with tangled heirs’ property arrangements, unclear title rights, and limited access to capital or expert advice. For these landowners, the forest is often seen as a liability rather than a legacy. Sustainable management, legal assistance, and program participation are out of reach without sustained support networks.
Organizations working at the regional level are helping bridge this divide by connecting local landowners to carbon buyers and funding essential stewardship practices like prescribed burns and pest management. These types of regionally rooted programs demonstrate that innovation must be designed for landowners—not just the markets that surround them.
Innovation and Management Go Hand in Hand
The panel made clear that sustainable forestry is not a passive practice—it requires active management. As one speaker noted, harvesting, thinning, and prescribed fire are not destructive when done responsibly; they are acts of long-term stewardship. Forests that lack markets for their products or are left unmanaged often become overstocked and vulnerable to pests or catastrophic fires. Conservation, in this context, depends on working forests and viable supply chains.
At the same time, many landowners are experimenting with new income sources beyond traditional timber. Ecotourism, birding access, beekeeping, and agroforestry all offer ways to diversify income while reinforcing cultural values. However, barriers like liability, fragmented ownership, and minimal infrastructure still limit these models’ reach, underscoring the need for creative, community-driven solutions. Supporting such diversification is essential to sustaining Southern forests as both economic and ecological assets in a rapidly changing climate.
Building Trust in Evolving Carbon Markets
The promise of carbon markets was a recurring topic, particularly the potential for forests to generate new revenue streams while delivering measurable climate benefits. Yet skepticism persists—especially among smallholders. Without transparency, localized accountability, and reliable payouts, many landowners are hesitant to engage. One panelist emphasized that buyer commitments must be long-term and that verification methods must be simple and credible to build real trust.
Meanwhile, for larger institutional or corporate landowners, carbon markets offer growing potential. When paired with responsible harvesting and modern technologies like biochar or smart tracking systems, these tools can integrate climate and economic goals. But ensuring equitable access and meaningful participation requires deliberate effort—particularly for historically marginalized communities.
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