The Executive Director of the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association, headquartered in Rhinelander, recently praised the cooperation by state when a large response was needed to get downed wood to market.
July 19th and 20th, tornadoes and straight-line winds severely damaged a large swath of land from Rhinelander to near Green Bay, along with portions of western Wisconsin.
Association Executive Director Henry Schienebeck says the Department of Transportation stepped forward to help loggers move the downed trees before the wood wasn't marketable...
"...What that does is cause a big salvage operation to get it cleaned up because that's a lot of value for a lot of landowners. What we asked(the DOT) was for a temporary expansion of more routes in that area. The response we got was phenomenal. It's a great working relationship when we can call down here(Madison), or I can send an email with a description of where we'd like something changed. In three days we got it back, we're done..."
Schienebeck attended the recent Wisconsin Freight Advisory Committee meeting in Madison.
The worst damage was associated with a "macroburst," a large downburst of straight-line winds that affected a large swath from Pelican Lake in Oneida County, southeast through Langlade and Oconto counties. Hundreds of thousands of trees were snapped or uprooted, resulting in damage to dozens of homes and cottages. The damage path was about 60 miles long and up to 10 miles wide at times. Winds were at least 100 mph in the hardest hit areas near Lily in northeast Langlade County.
Schienebeck's comments were provided by the Department of Transportation.
