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SOUTHERN STUMPIN’
Storm Season NOTE: Editors Jessica Johnson and Dan Shell contributed these hurricane damage reports, versions of which previously ran in other HattonBrown digital and print publications, including Timber Harvesting magazine, the Logger News Online e-mail newsletter and the Southern Loggin’ Times web site.
Laura Lashes Louisiana
W line near Cameron, La., on August 27 as a
hen Hurricane Laura slammed into the shore-
Category 4 hurricane, it brought with it 160 MPH winds and maintained hurricane status (80+ MPH winds) all the way to the Arkansas state line. It’s been more than 150 years—before the Civil War, even—since the last time this region experienced such powerful wind speeds. Before Laura, the Last
Laura hit Louisiana hard.
Island Hurricane in 1856 was the strongest storm to make landfall in Louisiana history, and the fifthstrongest to hit the continental U.S. on record. The damage for loggers and timberland owners equaled a year of timber harvests in a single night. More than 758,000 acres of timberland were badly damaged, including more than 3.5 billion BF of sawtimber (pine: 2.8 billion; hardwood: 740 million), with heavy timber damage reported in 20 parishes. According to a report by Jeff Zeringue in the Louisiana Logging Council’s Louisiana Logger publication, more than 39 million tons of wood came crashing down. In an economic impact study that cited reports from the LSU AgCenter, industry analysts Forest2Market pointed out that the storm’s $1.1 billion impact on timber inventories was almost double that of 2005’s Rita and Katrina, combined. LSU AgCenter economist Kurt Guidry figures that, based on the amount of infrastructure damage and timber-related losses, “The total economic impact to the food and fiber sector from Hurricane Laura will be as large as or larger than 6
l
any storm that I have developed estimates for since my time with the AgCenter.” On the ground, loggers are looking to salvage what they can, but over-saturated timber markets mean a big drop in prices. According to Forest2Market’s report, Laura will drive stumpage prices down in the near-term as too much wood, much of it low grade, chases too few market outlets. Longer-term, the report predicts, “Stumpage prices will become more volatile and likely trend higher thereafter—once the market works through the usable salvaged timber—and the regional supply chain adapts to new operating conditions that reflect the loss of over $1 billion in timber resources.”
Unsalvageable Salvaging wind-blown timber is slow and dangerous, and standard mechanized logging equipment isn’t designed for horizontal stems. Robbie Hutchins, extension forester for the LSU AgCenter Extension Service, says it’s not as simple as just bringing in chain saw crews because of how the wood is twisted. “It becomes a safety nightmare,” he says, and that will balloon insurance costs. Moreover, a report from the AgCenter determined that only 10% of the downed pine and none of the hardwood can be salvaged. The same dynamics came into play two years ago after Hurricane Michael hit northwest Florida and southwest Georgia: huge amounts of timber in barely salvageable condition, with overall market conditions making it barely worthwhile to cut and haul any of it. Noting that the parishes hit hardest contain the most productive timberlands in Louisiana, Louisiana Forestry Assn. and Louisiana Logging Council Executive Director Buck Vandersteen says “Unfortunately, most of this will be unsalvageable. Making matters worse is most mills are already carrying a full wood inventory.”
Available Help
ter conditions and may provide up to 75-90% of cost-sharing. The EFRP provides payments to eligible owners of nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) land to carry out emergency measures to restore land damaged by a natural disaster. Local FSA County Committees determine land eligibility and, if applicable, an on-site damage inspection to assess the type and extent of damage. Eligible forest restoration practices include debris removal, such as down or damaged trees, in order to establish a new stand or provide natural regeneration; site preparation, planting materials and labor to replant forestland; restoration of forestland roads, fire lanes, fuel breaks or erosion control structures; fencing, tree shelters and tree tubes to protect trees from wildlife damage; and wildlife enhancement to provide cover openings and wildlife habitat.
Michael: 2 Years Later
Rstarted, but two years after her cousin Michael
ecovery from Laura in Louisiana is just getting
hit Florida, loggers in that state are still dealing with the damage. When it made landfall on October 10, 2018, Hurricane Michael raged at 160 MPH. Barely missing the major Panama City population center that would have made the human toll much worse, the storm churned through north Florida and southwest Georgia for 150 miles before furious hurricane-force winds finally dissipated. It was the fourth-strongest wind speed landfall hurricane in contiguous U.S. history. Michael’s eye ripped right through the center of a 98,000-acre tract in the Bear Creek watershed, leaving in its wake a scene of blast-zone devastation. In mere hours a thriving, working forest that had been growing everything from seedlings to 35year-old sawtimber was reduced to an epic disaster of downed and windblown trees. According to a report by industry analyst Forest2Market, the most heavily affected areas lost the equivalent of 10-15 years of timber inventory removals, all concentrated into several hours. TIMO Forest Investment Associates (FIA) man-
Several relief programs are available. Vandersteen reported in his Louisiana Logger column that loggers should look into the federal Small Business Administration disaster loan program that offers low-interest loans up to $2 million for businesses impacted by the hurricane. The Louisiana Treasurer’s Office also administers a small business grant program for businesses affected by the coronavirus that could also be helpful, he added. The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) in Louisiana is accepting applications in eligible parishes for the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) and Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP). The ECP helps to Disaster drove innovation in Florida's Bear Creek. restore damaged farmland to pre-disas-
NOVEMBER 2020 l Southern Loggin’ Times
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