JACKSON — She may be new to the job, but District 37 Sen. Melanie Sojourner has been appointed the chairwoman for the senate’s forestry committee.

“First of all, it is an honor to even get a chairmanship, I wasn’t expecting that at all,” Sojourner said. “I know it is something freshmen (senators) don’t usually end up with — it was an honor, but at the same time, I know I have a lot to learn.”

Sojourner said she has a long history of family connections to the forestry industry, and she has a pine plantation on her own property.

“Forestry is such a huge resource and a backbone of Southwest Mississippi,” she said.

“If you are from our part of the state, you can’t not be touched by it.”

Sojourner said when she worked with the National Cattleman’s Beef Association, she was part of a larger lobbying organization that took on the Ford Motor Foundation when it launched a pro-steel campaign that she said hurt the timber industry.

That effort resulted in the foundation of a multi-million dollar, multi-year education fund.

“Ford said they weren’t meaning to attack any industry, and that gave us a chance to be at the table with them and explain to them what our industries are,” Sojourner said.

She’s already met with representatives from Georgia-Pacific, and Sojourner said she has plans to meet with representatives of International Paper and the Mississippi Forestry Association.

“I will be visiting one-on-one with as many forestry leaders as I can to get my arms around what their needs are, what their concerns are,” she said.

“I realize it is a tremendous responsibility, and I am humbled at the opportunity.”