Tag Archives: conservation

A Life Rooted in Forestry and Purpose – Meet Bob Izlar

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Danielsville, GA |

For Bob Izlar, the outdoors has always been more than just a place—it’s been a way of life. Growing up in Ware County in the 1950s and 60s, much of his time was spent hunting, fishing, and exploring the Okefenokee Swamp—a place that still holds a special place in his heart.

“I’m from Ware County. Grew up down there in the fifties and sixties, hunting and fishing a lot in the Okefenokee Swamp, so I got to know the Okefenokee really well,” Izlar says. “Always has had a special place in my heart.”

After high school, Izlar enrolled at the University of Georgia, where the ROTC program and the Vietnam War would shape his path, leading him into military service overseas until 1974. Following his return, Izlar began a long and impactful career in forestry, eventually spending more than a decade at the Georgia Forestry Association. There, he helped lead a decades-long fight to fairly tax agricultural and forest land.

“The Farm Bureau and Georgia Forestry Association had worked hand in hand for twenty-six years to get current use treatment of ag land and forest land,” says Izlar. “And for twenty-six years, we got kicked in the teeth, could not get it passed—couldn’t even get it on the ballot. And in the twenty-seventh year, the conditions finally got right that we were able to get the resolution passed.”

But for Izlar, forestry has never just been a job—it’s been a passion and a purpose. In 1997, he became the founding director of the Harley Langdale Jr. Center for Forest Business at UGA, creating a first-of-its-kind program designed to prepare future forestry leaders.

“Forestry, at its very basic, is agriculture,” he explains. “The forest brings us so many benefits—clean air, clean water, wildlife. You know, forestry is a calling. It’s a profession, but to me, it’s also a cause, and it’s extremely important that future generations learn about the benefits of forests so they don’t all get converted to something else through time.”

Izlar’s life and work are deeply intertwined with Georgia Farm Bureau’s mission, and he says he’s proud to be recognized by an organization that shares his values.

“It’s just a deep respect that I have because it’s a farmer organization. They have my values as I think I have theirs—because we love the land, we love the United States of America, we love private property rights, and we want to see rural life continue in Georgia,” Izlar says. “I think all of us understand that rural lifestyle is certainly under threat, so Farm Bureau is one of the last guardians of the rural lifestyle.”

By: John Holcomb

Georgia Legislature Protecting State’s Farmland

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Atlanta, GA

In the last few decades, the state of Georgia has seen rapid growth, but that growth has come at a cost. That cost: land that was once used to produce food, fiber, and shelter. In fact, since the seventies, Georgia has seen a twenty percent reduction in land that was once used for farming. However, as a result of this year’s legislative session, legislators have passed a measure to combat the issue – Senate Bill 220, or the Farmland Conservation Act – a policy recommendation from Commissioner Harper’s office that creates a fund to help protect the state’s farmland by allowing agricultural landowners to give up all or some of their development rights to a conservation trust or similar entity.

“The Georgia Farmland Conservation Fund is a fund that would be established under the Department of Agriculture that will allow farmers to participate in conservation easements,” says Georgia Ag Commissioner, Tyler Harper. “This is not new. It’s something that’s been done in 29 other states around the country. It’s something that we’re building off of what other states have done, but it gives us an opportunity to allow family farms and producers across the state, if they so choose, to put their farms in a conservation easement to protect their production ag land for generations to come.”

As Harper stated, this measure is nothing new, as Georgia is now the thirtieth state to create such a fund, which according to Senator Russ Goodman, the lead sponsor of the bill, has been very successful, as he says millions of acres across the country have been protected due to measures like this one.

“Through these programs we’ve been able to protect about 3.2 million acres across the country,” says Russ Goodman, State Senator from Georgia’s 8th District. “For instance, in the state of Florida, they’ve protected 58,000 acres of land, I believe it is, and North Carolina is 28,000 acres. But there’s a federal match that comes down from the federal government for this. It’s a dollar-for-dollar match, for any private money, any state money, any local money that goes into it.”

According to Goodman, Harper, and others alike, preserving farmland not only is crucial for the future of our farmers, but it’s also a vital part of our national security.

“Food security is an essential element in national security. You can’t, you can’t grow crops and you can’t grow food without land, right? And so that’s what the purpose of this bill. It’s to try to protect farmland and perpetuity. And you think about what the implications are for, like I say, generations down the line. That’s the intent of the bill. Um, and it’s important to me that years and generations down the line, that we have the ability to feed ourselves,” says Goodman.

“Agricultural land is a very vital part of the ag sector. Without land, we can’t produce the crops and the livestock that we need to help ensure that we’re providing a safe, secure, food supply and that we have the food, the fiber, and the shelter we need right here at home without relying on foreign sources to do that for us,” says Harper. “It makes us more independent when it comes to our food supply chain, our fiber supply chain, and our shelter supply chain right here in the state of Georgia. Protecting Georgia families, Georgia Farms, and Georgia producers is vital, but at the same time, by doing that, we’re able to ensure that consumers are protected across the state as well, because they can rest assured that we continue to have a safe, secure food supply on those grocery store shelves all across the state.”

By: John Holcomb