Valley Wood forester Mark Shaw, of Kensington, monitors progress daily at Valley Wood in LaFayette, where timber is cut and shipped to companies that later turn it into paper, furniture and flooring. A variety of tree logs can be found on the property, like the white and red oak timber logs pictured.Valley Wood in LaFayette transports timber to local businesses to be turned into paper, furniture and hardwood floors. The business has three Georgia lumber yards: LaFayette, Coosa and Dallas.
“Trees are our No. 1 oldest renewable resource,” said registered state of Georgia forester Mark Shaw, who grew up in Chickamauga but now lives in Kensington, where he is personally growing 250 acres of a variety of trees to be harvested, along with hay, cattle and pigs. His daughter and two nephews are the eighth generation of the Shaw family working on the Coulter-Shaw Farm.
“A top reason people sought out America was because of renewable resources,” said Shaw. “Trees play an important role in history. The British used pine for the masts on their ships, as did the United States. The USS Constitution was made out of Georgia live oak. Native Americans also used trees to build canoes and their houses.”
Valley Wood continues the tradition of valuing wood by purchasing timber from people, cutting it and hauling it by the tractor trailer load to mills around the region, he said. Valley Wood also peels wood to create fence posts and cuts firewood to sell.
Shaw said Valley Wood is basically a dealer of wood. Seven foresters/timber buyers travel around within an hour’s distance of the LaFayette site to offer estimates on how much the company will pay someone to harvest their timber.