The Daniel B. Warnell School of Forest Resources has received a gift of 1,339 acres of Effingham County land valued at $6.1 million, one of the largest gifts in the Warnell School’s history and the largest received this fiscal year by any UGA unit. The property is adjacent to 1,800 acres given by Carolyn Bryan and her late sister, Dorothy Warnell, in various parcels over the past seven years. That land comprises the Dorothy Warnell Research, Education and Demonstration Forest and the Mary Kahrs Warnell Education Center, and the newly donated land will be added to the forest and the center.
The gifts are in memory of Carolyn and Dorothy’s mother and father. The forest and center are used to further forest resources education for children in kindergarten through 12th grade and other audiences, for research, and for demonstration areas for non-industrial forest landowners.
“We are grateful to Carolyn Bryan for this extraordinary gift and for her family’s ongoing tradition of philanthropy in the interest of the University of Georgia and the Warnell School,” says President Michael F. Adams.
Carolyn Bryan and the late Dorothy Warnell are daughters of the late Daniel B. Warnell, namesake of the UGA forest resources school, and his late wife, Mary Kahrs Warnell. Mr. Warnell was president of the Pembroke State Bank and a member of the State House and Senate in the 1930s. A large landowner, he supplied pine trees for the research of UGA chemist Charles H. Herty, whose discovery that Southern yellow pine could be used to manufacture paper pulp led to the development of the state’s modern forestry industry, which today contributes $20 billion and 175,000 jobs to the state’s economy.
“We are very thankful for Carolyn and Dorothy’s commitment and contributions to UGA,” says Arnett C. Mace, senior vice president for academic affairs and the former dean of the Warnell School. “Carolyn’s emphasis on educating our youth and other Georgians is exemplary. This additional gift will be of tremendous value to the Daniel B. Warnell School and the University of Georgia in providing these programs.”
