Brantley County looks to 'green' ideas

NAHUNTA, Ga. --- In sparsely populated, heavily wooded Brantley County, any reference to a cutting edge is usually about a way to bring down a tree.

But since the county commission was sworn in Jan. 1, "green" is starting to stand for something other than the loblolly and slash pines that shade most of the rural landscape.

The five-member commission has adopted policies and enacted ordinances designed to protect its natural amenities, particularly the Satilla River. And two major industries moving in will take advantage of the area's most plentiful and renewable natural resource -- those planted pines.

Not that the largely conservative commission is out to jump on anybody's environmentalist bandwagon.

"It's just the right thing to do," Chairman Ron Ham said.

The commission, he said, takes a commonsense approach, the results of which have been ordinances to ban all-terrain vehicles from the river and other streams and to regulate construction in the river's flood plain.

ATVs wreak havoc in the river, causing erosion that suffocates the river bottom. Homes and roads built in the flood plain contribute to the erosion problem and can lead to a variety of toxins washing into the river, particularly during periods of high water.

Mr. Ham points out that the flood plain ordinance is required by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, but also because, "We think it's a good idea."

"We have to protect the river," he said. "It's the only chance we've got for tourism."

Commissioner Mike Edgy, a tree farmer, said good stewardship of the land and fiscal responsibility go hand-in-hand. He has placed some of his property under a federal conservation easement, as have several other landowners along the Satilla.

From federal officials, he learned a road-building technique designed to prevent erosion and silting into the river. With nearly 500 miles of difficult-to-maintain dirt roads in the county, every heavy rain washes a lot of fill dirt from the roads and eventually into the river.

The new technique involves the use of a fabric liner and rocks to stabilize the roads.

A COUPLE OF NEW INDUSTRIES are moving in along U.S. Highway 82 between Waynesville and Nahunta, an area that could become the county's industrial corridor.

Magnolia BioPower will use forest products refused by the saw and paper mills -- tree tops, young trees that have been thinned from planted forests and other bits that currently wind up in burn piles.

It will produce pressed wood pellets that are in wide use in Europe as an alternative to coal, and also will generate 30 megawatts of "green power," using bark and other waste to fuel a power plant.

Mr. Ham, who also is the project manager for Magnolia, said the company's prospective European customers will insist that the operations of the plant are carried out with minimal impact on the environment.

On the outskirts of Nahunta, United Biomass is transforming a former mulch plant into a facility that will make fireplace logs and other pressed wood fuel products from sawdust, Mr. Ham said.

Both of these new industries will make good use of resources that currently are wasted, he said.

More such industries could be on the way. Magnolia's developer plans to donate 50 to 75 acres near its plant site to Brantley County to be used as an industrial park. Green Power Park is one name under consideration.

Commissioner Greg O'Quinn emphasizes that the county needs industry and won't limit itself to those that are considered green.

"What they're doing reflects on the basic values of the people in Brantley County," said John Carswell, the acting executive director of Satilla Riverkeeper. "They're not doing it because it's trendy. They're doing it because that's what their mothers and fathers brought them up to do."