Front row: Philip Whitlow, Huber Engineered Woods; Maryanne Morgan, Project Learning Tree facilitator; Rosemary Regans, Morgan Lumber Company; Melanie Hastings, HCPS; Rosa Dunn, SVHEC; Madeline Hite, SVHEC; Virginia Barksdale, SVHEC; BriAna Jeffress, SVHEC; Amy Cole, SVHEC; Back Row: Eric Goodman, Smurfit Westrock; Ken Morgan, Morgan Lumber, VFEF; Adam Wilbourne, Wilbourne Land; Mike Davis, NOVEC; Diontae Ferrell, Intern H&M Logging and HCPS student; Clint Johnson, Johnson Brothers, LLC; Elijah Roark, Intern Earth Krafters and HCPS student; Kenny Hodges, Jr. H&M Logging; Jeff Francisco, Francisco Forestry; Lesley Newman, Project Learning Tree; not pictured, Dr. Paul Winistorfer, Dean College of Natural Resources and Environment.
The Southern Virginia Higher Education Center has been awarded a $30,000 grant from the Virginia Forestry Educational Foundation (VFEF). The grant will fund the Sustainable Wood Innovators project to raise awareness of career opportunities in sustainable forestry and the forest products industry in Southern Virginia.
The VFEF grant will support a year of activities that will expose elementary, middle, and high school students and educators to the abundance of forestry related career opportunities that exist in the region. Planned activities include:
- Field trips to regional forest products companies like Huber Engineered Woods, Morgan Lumber Company, and Meherrin River Forest Products;
- Partnering with Project Learning Tree to introduce teachers to forest products careers and providing them with resources to align key concepts with the Virginia Standards of Learning requirements;
- Providing scholarships to support students who plan on pursuing a career in sustainable forestry or forest products careers; and
- Continuing SVHEC’s partnership with the Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources & Environment to educate students about four-year career pathways.
“Most students don’t realize that the forest products industry is the third largest industry in the state, and that Southern Virginia is in the middle of Virginia’s ‘wood basket.’ There are a wealth of opportunities for students in this industry, and the Sustainable Wood Innovators project will help make students aware of them,” said Amy Cole, project manager and SVHEC Director of Student and Partner Relations.
The term “wood basket” refers to the southeastern United States which supplies 60% of the total volume of timber harvested in the United States.
One of the goals of the VFEF grant is to help students who are already pursuing hands-on, technical training see that their skills can be used in the Forest Products Industry. “Students in technical programs at SVHEC are already gaining valuable skills that align with occupations needed in the forest products sector, but they don’t associate their training with the in-demand jobs needed in Forestry or Forest Products,” Cole said.
The Sustainable Wood Innovators project is led by a dynamic advisory committee comprised of representatives from Southern Virginia’s major forest products employers, career and technical education leaders, experienced forestry products professionals, and students. The project formally launched with a kick-off meeting of the advisory committee on April 1, 2025.
For more information about the Sustainable Wood Innovators project email Amy Cole at or call 434-572-5441.