Tag Archives: rural Georgia

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

Hurricane Helene’s Devastation and Recovery: Improving Rural Power

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Waynesboro, GA |

Hurricane Helene is a storm that certainly will not be forgotten, as it was a storm that caused more devastation than ever seen as it ripped through the heart of rural Georgia, destroying anything in its path, including critical infrastructure such as the power grid.

“Hurricane Helene was the most devastating storm to hit Georgia Power ever. Many people remember the damage that was caused by Hurricane Michael, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Matthew. Hurricane Helene actually did much more damage than those three storms combined. Hurricane Matthew took down about 2000 power poles – Hurricane Helene took down twelve thousand,” says Kim Greene, Georgia Power CEO.

Though the destruction was no doubt overwhelming, Kim says they immediately went to work restoring the more than one million customers without power, but says they didn’t just work to restore the grid, they worked to restore it better than it was before.

“In many cases in this storm, we weren’t just restoring power, we were rebuilding the grid. The grid had been so terribly damaged that we actually had to start all over, and when you do that, you have the opportunity in some cases, for example, instead of using a wooden pole, you might be able to use a concrete or a steel pole. So you have a more resilient system. We also have upgraded much of our equipment and are in the process of doing that across the state. It really does give us an opportunity to make improvements to our grid that we would normally have been planning to do anyway and we’ll just do it while we’re out there restoring after the storm damage,” says Greene.

Though most will never notice the improvements on a day-to-day basis, the technology can have a big impact by increasing efficiency when nature strikes.

“You see transformers everywhere. A lot of people know what transformer is, but there’s other devices, like sectionializers and re-closures, trip savers. Those type devices are what allows us to keep the power on in a more timely manner, opposed to where you may have just a fuse blow in and your power stays out until somebody can come fix it; a re-closer and a trip saver device that’s on these poles; these automatically restore power,” says Denver Barrett, Georgia Power Engineering Rep.

According to Barrett, these improvements and investments are essential for everyone, but especially those in rural parts of the state that tend to be at the edge of service areas.

“What we do is we go around our areas, rural areas, where in the past, you just don’t see equipment like that. Usually you see that in kind of technology in your more populated areas. We’re trying to focus on our more rural areas. Those customers matter, they’re just as important as everybody else. A lot of our farmers, with their pivots and irrigation systems, they’re at the end of these lines in these rural areas. That’s where we’re trying to get a lot of this system implemented, so we can have quicker restoration time and just provide them with a more reliable system,” says Barrett.

By: John Holcomb