As Virginia lawmakers prepared to begin the 2026 General Assembly, Virginia’s forestry leaders held their Legislative Day on the Hill bringing lots of forestry leaders from logging, mills, trucking, forest consulting, forest landowners, and many supporting services to meet with elected officials and discuss issues, challenges, opportunities, and solutions.
This event was the organized by the Virginia Forestry Association, Virginia Forest Products Association, and the Virginia Loggers Association. Dozens of members from the forest products industry came to give a Voice for forestry and ensure lawmakers continued to support Virginia’s third largest industry.
Following a briefing on the issues and agenda, five advocate leaders took their group around to meet several lawmakers and leave them information about industry. On this page, you will see some pictures from the group led by VLA. Members include Chris Brown, Ben Cole, Jason Critzer, Steven Peter, and Justin Shanks.
Secretary of Agriculture & Forestry Elect spoke to the group with an overview of what we might expect during Governor Elect Spanberger’s adminitration. One phto is of the group with Senator William Stanley. Our group also visited the Legislative staff of Senator Williams-Graves, Senator Ryan McDougle, and Delegate Michael Webert.
Following the day’s visits with lawmakers, advocates returned to the Credit Union House to celebrate the day and meet in a relaxing setting with many lawmakers, where further discussion continued about keeping a strong forest products industry.