Markets, Momentum, and the Decade Ahead for Southern Forests

More than 100 partners joined Keeping Forests for a conversation about the market forces shaping the future of Southern working forests — and what it will take to move those markets forward.

The discussion explored a fundamental challenge: forests provide significant economic, environmental, and community value, but markets do not consistently recognize or reward that value. Development and infrastructure pressures are changing land economics, new sources of capital are looking for investable opportunities, and businesses are making decisions based on signals that often fail to capture the full value of keeping forests working and intact.

Executive Director Laura Calandrella was joined by Danan Margason, CEO & Co-Founder of Aarden AI, to examine changing land values, capital flows, and technology and development pressure; and Tracey Sutherland, Associate Director of Strategy at Stein, to explore how differentiation, buyer logic, and narrative influence business decisions and market behavior.

Together, the conversation surfaced three conditions Keeping Forests is working to change: stronger market recognition for the qualities and outcomes Southern forests provide; clearer pathways for capital to reach forests and forest management; and a more coherent business case that helps companies, investors, and institutions understand why Southern forests matter to their own priorities.

The takeaway: Southern forests need the systems around existing and emerging markets to work better together — connecting demand, capital, and decision-making so that keeping forests as forests can remain economically competitive in a rapidly changing South.