April 2026
MADISON, Fla.— Genesis Timber LLC is an established wood broker rooted in Florida’s Big Bend region, operating as the linchpin of a fully integrated operation that also includes Gray Logging LLC and Valor Trucking LLC. All three companies are independent and play distinct roles under the same roof, bound together by matrimony, faith and a mutual commitment to strengthening the state’s wood-products industry for generations to come.
Inside This Issue
COVER: Trinity
MADISON, Fla.—Genesis Timber LLC is an established wood broker rooted in Florida’s Big Bend region, operating as the linchpin of a fully integrated operation that also includes Gray Logging LLC and Valor Trucking LLC. All three companies are independent and play distinct roles under the same roof, bound together by matrimony, faith and a mutual commitment to strengthening the state’s wood-products industry for generations to come.
Article by Patrick Dunning, Associate Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
SOUTHERN STUMPIN': Meet Lori Walker
If you haven’t met her, Lori Walker really is a kind of a force of nature, or what some loggers might call a “go-getter” — as in, she’s the type who goes and gets things done. And one of the things she has gone and gotten done in the last several years: Lori is the founder of what was for six years known as the Carolina Women in Timber group, based in South Carolina. Thanks to Lori’s perseverance and tireless efforts—and some help and encouragement from her daughter and many others—that organization has now expanded beyond its home state and evolved into the National Assn. of Women in Timber, a name change that just became official in January of this year.
Proven Opportunity
Will policymakers support increasing biomass markets?
On June 12, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that includes language that encourages federal efforts to find innovative uses for woody biomass, focusing on wildfire mitigation. If implemented, there will be millions of tons per year of woody biomass produced. Forest fire risk reduction via selective thinning will result in very large quantities of low-grade biomass needing a destination. The massive influx of thinnings from wildfire mitigation efforts will overwhelm a sector that is already oversupplied. The strategy described here, for using the wildfire mitigation thinnings, is based on a well-proven use of existing coal-fueled power stations that are modified to use upgraded coal replacement fuel produced from woody biomass. It strongly supports the otherwise fading markets for residual forest products.
Article by William Strauss, PhD
FROM THE BACKWOODS PEW: Swamp Sheep
There are some days when you work in the outdoors that you will see something completely new…a real National Geographic moment, if you will. But it is rare. In forestry, what you see every day are trees, and if you work in the southeast, you see pine trees. These pine trees all look alike. Fortunately, my job also takes me into many hardwood stands, so I get to see the variations associated with southern hardwoods. But I am also blessed in that I also get to work in swamps. While that is not a coveted job in my profession, it is one that I have long loved. I started in a place called the Green Swamp. The ditches were full of cottonmouth moccasins and alligators. Tics in the woods would knock you down and take your lunch money. My first day on the job included an encounter with a rattlesnake.
INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP
- As We See It – A New Era of Conservation Leadership
- Two More Mills Down In Alabama
- Biomass Prices Decline In South
- ALC Plans DC Fly-In
- USDA Forest Service Offers Grant Funding
- Women In Timber Grows Nationwide
- NA Mill Closings Outpace Openings
- FRA Announces Regional Winners
- Permitting Progress For Tigercat’s Carbonizer
Trinity
Genesis Timber, Gray Logging and Valor Trucking are part of the same family business.
Article by Patrick Dunning, Associate Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
MADISON, Fla.—Genesis Timber LLC is an established wood broker rooted in Florida’s Big Bend region, operating as the linchpin of a fully integrated operation that also includes Gray Logging LLC and Valor Trucking LLC. All three companies are independent and play distinct roles under the same roof, bound together by matrimony, faith and a mutual commitment to strengthening the state’s wood-products industry for generations to come.
At the helm of Genesis Timber, Matthew Webb, 48, President, and Joshua Light, 47, Director of Operations, oversee wood procurement and manage relationships with landowners and mills. Both are sons-in-law of Jerry Gray, 64, owner of Gray Logging and Vice President of Genesis Timber. Gray also currently serves on the board of the Southeastern Wood Producers Assn., where he previously held the presidency, and is one of the most decorated loggers in the southeastern United States.
Genesis Timber came to life in 2015 as a partnership between Webb and Gray, and has since grown into one of the region’s most integrated timber operations.
Operations
Alongside Webb and Light, Genesis Timber employs a full-time administrative assistant, Megan Kirkland. Webb’s mother, Jeanne Webb, handles HR, accounting, 1099s and day-to-day office operations. Forester Todd Witt cruises timber, runs land lines, checks on crews, meets with landowners and marks timber. A significant and recent loss to the team was Wally Ellis, a 29-year veteran who served with the operation from 1996 until his retirement in August 2025. He passed away shortly after. “Wally did it all,” Webb says. “He was my partner on that side and is deeply missed by all.” Genesis Timber currently directs six contract logging crews, two of which are from Gray Logging. The remaining four are Webb Timber Harvesting, CF Webb and Son’s Logging, Pearce Logging and New Beginnings Logging. Gray Logging runs the harvesting side of operations, dealing primarily with private landowners and local timber consultants across the region.
When Southern Loggin’ Times visited Gray Logging in March, the company was conducting a clear-cut on 217 acres in Madison County. The stand featured 22-year-old planted slash pine with loblolly mixed throughout, originally planned as a thinning to leave 30 trees per acre before the landowner opted to clear-cut and replant.
“This tract features mostly rolling hills with a low area in the middle, but no BMPs,” Gray says. “The landowner clear-cut it several years ago and decided to do it again for his kids.” Before any crew moves on a tract, Gray’s approach is methodical by intention. Maps are pulled and ramps and decking areas are staked out before the first tree is cut. Safety meetings, which include an emergency response plan, are held with every crew. Six Florida Master Loggers are currently on staff and are all CPR certified.
Gray Logging runs 643L-II John Deere cutters and 748L-II skidders in the field, with a couple of L series machines still working on Gray’s other crew. A Barko 595B loader handles all processing at the landing.
Knight Forestry in Whigham, Ga., has been the go-to source for Barko equipment for decades and remains a relationship that runs deeper than business.
“We appreciate our relationship with Knight Forestry and have done business with them since the 1970s,” Gray says. “My dad was doing business with their dad and I do business with the sons now.”
Gray Logging buys all its John Deere machinery from Beard Equipment in Perry, Fla.
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