The trees are still growing. The people who know how to harvest them are still here. Colleton County has industrial sites, rail access and a long history tied to forestry.
What South Carolina has lost is something just as important. Buyers.
That is the picture emerging from separate written responses provided to Walterboro Shines by Brantley Strickland, president and CEO of the Colleton County Economic Alliance, and Michael J. Campbell, president and CEO of the South Carolina Timber Producers Association.
They are looking at the problem from different sides. One works in economic development. The other represents people who grow, cut and haul timber.
But they agree on the central issue.
South Carolina does not have a shortage of trees.
It has a shortage of markets.
10.7 Million Tons of Demand Disappeared
The South Carolina Forestry Commission says mill closures and curtailments from 2023 through 2025 removed approximately 10.7 million tons of wood buying demand from South Carolina markets. That is a decline of more than 30 percent from the state's previous peak annual demand.
At the same time, South Carolina's forests continue to grow more timber than is being removed.
Campbell said those two facts explain much of what timberland owners and logging businesses are experiencing right now.
"South Carolina does not have a shortage of trees," Campbell told Walterboro Shines. "We have lost markets for a substantial portion of what our forests can sustainably produce."
One of the clearest examples is pine pulpwood.
South Carolina Forestry Commission price reports show the statewide average pine pulpwood stumpage price was $14.17 per ton in the first quarter of 2022.
By the second quarter of 2026, it was $5.27 per ton.
That is a drop of about 63 percent.
But Campbell said price tells only part of the story.
A landowner can have timber that needs thinning and still struggle to find an economical market for that wood.
For lower value products such as pulpwood, transportation distance becomes especially important.
Campbell said that in today's market, being within about 40 miles of a buyer is ideal. As hauling distances increase, fuel, trucking costs, loading time and mill delays eat into the value of the wood.
That can leave landowners waiting to thin timber and logging crews moving to tracts closer to the remaining mills.
And that has consequences beyond today's paycheck.
Thinning is also part of maintaining a healthy and productive forest.
What Has Colleton County Actually Done?
One question Walterboro Shines wanted answered was whether Colleton County has actually been pursuing forest products companies.
According to Strickland, the answer is yes.
He said agribusiness and forest products have traditionally been target industries for the Colleton County Economic Alliance.
Since he began leading the organization in April 2025, Strickland said Colleton County sites have been submitted for projects involving engineered wood products and biomass alternative energy.
The bigger problem, he said, has been the number of projects available to compete for.
New forest products inquiries have declined sharply as the national timber and lumber markets have struggled.
That means having land and timber available does not automatically produce a new mill.
There first has to be a company looking for somewhere to build one.
The Alliance continues working with the South Carolina Forestry Commission, Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce and SouthernCarolina Alliance to recruit industry, according to Strickland.
He said the Alliance also participated in a South Carolina delegation to Vancouver, Canada, that met with timber based companies about expanding or relocating operations to the state.
Could Colleton County Support Another Wood Using Industry?
Strickland believes it could.
A recent Forestry Commission woodbasket analysis found significant usable timber resources in the region.
Asked what types of forest products operations the available wood could support, Strickland's answer was simple.
"All of the above."
He specifically pointed to the western portion of Colleton County, with its large tracts of agricultural land, as a potential location for a major milling operation.
He also said four other industrial parks are either certified or going through South Carolina's Palmetto Sites readiness process.
Workforce is often one of the biggest hurdles in industrial recruitment.
In Colleton County, it may work in our favor.
Because of the county's location and the region's long history with forest products industries, Strickland said he sees the existing workforce as an asset.
Campbell reached a similar conclusion from the industry side.
"I agree that Colleton County deserves serious consideration," he said.
Campbell pointed to the county's timber base, forestry workforce, CSX rail corridor and proximity to the Port of Charleston.
But he cautioned against looking for one giant mill to replace everything that has been lost.
Maybe the Answer Is Not One Mill
A modern forest economy uses more than large sawtimber.
Campbell said some of the greatest market problems involve small diameter timber, pulpwood and wood residuals.
Even a sawmill creates another challenge.
Only about half of a sawtimber log becomes dimensional lumber. The rest becomes material such as chips, bark and sawdust.
Those products need buyers too.
That is why Campbell believes South Carolina should pursue several types of wood consuming industries rather than betting everything on one replacement mill.
Possibilities include engineered wood products, fiber products, renewable fuels, biochar, renewable chemicals and other technologies capable of turning lower value timber and wood residuals into higher value products.
"The strongest opportunity may ultimately be a portfolio of markets rather than one replacement mill," Campbell said.
Diversification could also protect landowners and timber businesses the next time one particular market declines.
Boise Cascade Is Finally Moving Forward
Colleton County does have one forest products related investment already moving toward development.
Boise Cascade announced plans for a $9 million building materials distribution facility at the Stokes site on Risher Mountain Tower Road.
The South Carolina Department of Commerce says the operation is expected to create 30 jobs and will have direct access to the Palmetto Railways Salkehatchie Subdivision.
Strickland told Walterboro Shines that the project, originally announced in 2022, had experienced delays but is expected to move into construction.
But it is important to understand what the project is.
Boise Cascade's Colleton County project is a distribution operation. It is not a new sawmill or pulpwood consuming plant.
It is good news for the county's forest products and transportation network, but it does not replace the millions of tons of wood buying capacity South Carolina has lost.
That remains the bigger challenge.
An Unexpected Connection to the Data Center Debate
Campbell also raised an idea that connects two issues Colleton County residents have been talking about extensively. Timber markets and data centers.
Data centers require enormous amounts of electricity.
Campbell believes South Carolina should at least examine whether some of that new electricity demand could help create a market for woody biomass and forest products residuals.
He suggested policymakers explore incentives for data centers that support qualifying in state woody biomass generation where it makes economic and environmental sense.
That is Campbell's proposal. It is not an existing Colleton County policy.
But it raises an interesting question.
If South Carolina is preparing to add tremendous new electrical demand, could some of that growth also be used to create a market for a renewable resource the state already has in abundance?
Campbell believes the conversation is worth having.
What We Need Now Are Markets
For Colleton County's timberland owners, the issue ultimately comes back to something fairly basic.
Trees have value when somebody needs them.
Without enough buyers, an abundant forest resource can become an economic problem.
Logging companies lose destinations for their wood. Trucks travel farther. Landowners receive fewer bids. Equipment dealers, mechanics, fuel suppliers and other rural businesses eventually feel the effects.
Campbell is especially concerned about losing experienced logging businesses.
Once those businesses close, equipment is sold and skilled workers move elsewhere. Rebuilding that harvesting capacity becomes difficult and expensive.
That means South Carolina cannot simply wait until the timber market improves and assume the infrastructure necessary to supply future mills will still be there.
Strickland said the Economic Alliance understands the urgency.
"We hear you," he told timberland owners and residents. "We understand the timber industry is in a difficult spot right now."
He said the Alliance intends to continue pursuing these industries when opportunities become available.
Campbell put the challenge even more plainly.
Colleton County already has the renewable resource. It has generations of forestry knowledge. It has people who know how to grow it, harvest it and move it.
"What we need now are markets."
And that may be the most important point in this entire discussion.
The question is no longer whether Colleton County has enough trees.
The question is whether we can turn what is already growing here into new jobs, new buyers and a forest economy strong enough to keep those trees valuable for the next generation.
Walterboro Shines
NOTE: We want to extend a special thank you to both Brantley Strickland, president and CEO of the Colleton County Economic Alliance, and Michael J. Campbell, president and CEO of the South Carolina Timber Producers Association for taking the time to answer our many questions and shine light on these topics that are important to a vast majority of our local residents. Sincerely thank you!