The cleanup continues from the severe storms that flattened large swaths of trees and did damage to portions of Oneida, Langlade and Forest and counties in western and central Wisconsin.
The state Natural Resources Board Wednesday heard a report from DNR Northeast District Forestry Leader Ryan Severson about the 14 confirmed tornado touchdowns and straight line winds topping 100 miles per hour...
"These are likely conservative numbers and don't capture everything that is out there. We're talking about roughly 286,000 acres impacted. To give you an idea, that's roughly the amount of land that is harvested for timber in a given year. Now there's a similar number that is laying on the ground..."
Of that number, 53,000 acres are National Forest land, 500 acres of tribal ownership, 15,000 state acres, 24,000 of county forest and 56,000 acres of managed forest land and 139,000 private lands. By county, Langlade had 79,000 acres affected and Oconto 63,000 acres impacted.
Severson says the forestry department skills helped bring relief to the situation but the need was massive...
"A big effort to get roads open so there is EMS access for folks. Make sure people were safe. If you look closely(showing a map) there's houses behind these tangled messes. Just getting access to people. Folks in these neighborhoods were without power for weeks. It overwhelmed the utility crews and local emergency management..."
Severson says they sent out 9,000 mailings to private landowners and held informational meetings.
He says some challenges include some of the the wood that is down isn't suitable for market. He says an issue is getting the useable wood to market in time before it goes bad. He says depending on species, they will prioritize the removal. He says bugs and disease will affect downed wood and healthy living trees nearby.
