TIFTON — Things are all green in the Tift County Forestry Unit, according to a report given at the most recent county commission meeting.

Al Potts, chief of the forestry unit came before the board of commissioners Sep. 11 to inform them of his department’s accomplishments over the past year.

Potts reported that they had issued 797 permits for the agricultural clearing of 8,461 acres, but that they had ceased handing out permits for yard debris.

Only 21 fires had broken out, but the forestry unit had assisted thirteen landowners in safely burning around 1,060 acres and had plowed over 1,100 acres of firebreak for twenty-two landowners.

In terms of community engagement, Potts stated that his department had sold over 12,000 seedlings and taken part in twenty-three outreach programs, through which they had assisted 873 people. He also reported that the forestry unit’s management forester had assisted in fifty-two cases.

Potts did note, however, that the forestry unit was short on jobs at the moment.

He thanked the county commissioners for their support to his department and the county, to which the commissioners in turn thanked him and his unit for their hard work.