GEORGIA — The Senate Advancing Forest Innovation in Georgia Study Committee was formed this year to look for ways the state can encourage investment in sustainable forest products that will generate demand in the future.

Advanced genetics leading to fast-growing trees and a favorable climate have combined to make Georgia the No. 1 forestry state in the nation, a $42 billion industry responsible for 143,000 jobs.

But with pulp and paper mills going out of business in large numbers due to intense foreign competition, demand for timber is on the decline. As a result, prices for wood are down to levels not seen since the 1970s.

An innovative use of wood in its infancy is mass timber construction of either multi-family residential or office buildings made with wood to replace more carbon-intensive materials like concrete and steel. The first commercial building in Georgia constructed with mass timber is at Atlanta's Ponce City Market, made from southern yellow pine timber grown in rural Georgia.

"These types of projects allow us to connect urban and rural," Andres Villegas, president and CEO of the Georgia Forestry Association, told the study committee.

Researchers also are exploring ways to convert southern pine into anodes for electric-vehicle batteries, important components of battery cells. The state has invested $3 million into that research, said Tim Lowrimore, executive director of the Georgia Forestry Commission, a state agency that works to protect and conserve the state's forest resources.

The study committee will consider how the state could help foster innovative uses for wood products throughout several meetings this summer and fall.