Loggers try to salvage timber from tornado-ravaged forest
(Published Friday, June 29, 2007 10:17:12 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Associated Press
ANTIGO, Wis. - Area loggers are tackling the tedious and dangerous job of salvaging timber from the trees twisted and toppled by the tornado that hit the area June 7 and devastated an estimated 14,400 acres of forest.
"This is the worst sort of logging. It is very, very dangerous," said Dennis Fincher, a forester with Kretz Lumber Co. "Down on the Menominee reservation, three loggers have already suffered broken arms from trees snapping back at them."
The tornado cut a swath 36 miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide.
The damaged timberland included 8,000 acres of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.
On the Menominee reservation, 100,000 cords of pulpwood and 50 million board feet of saw lumber were leveled, or enough to build 4,166 average-sized homes.
Fincher said Kretz Lumber lost about 320 acres of woodlands, with 100 acres "totally flattened." The timber value is figured at $1,500 to $2,000 an acre.
Kretz now is working with loggers and private landowners to salvage as much as possible.
"Lots of local loggers are involved in the current salvage efforts," Fincher said. "Right now it looks like most everyone will have some loggers to help them salvage their timber. I give a lot of credit to the industry to come forward like this."
Marshall Logging serves as Kretz's private contractor in the area, relying on high-tech processors instead of chain saws to remove and stack the timber safely.
Kevin Marshall, of Marshall Logging, said it is slow work.
"There are a lot of twisted trees," he said. "We can salvage a lot but it is a slow process."
Fincher estimated landowners would be able to recover about 75 percent of the timber's value through salvage efforts.
