Page 10 - Georgia Forestry - Issue2 - Spring 2019

If a given tree stand had less than 30 percent damage, Butler has mostly
left it alone, instead directing his attention to the pest, wildlife and fire management issues he can still address.
little — and were too tricky to extract — to be worth their time.
If a given tree stand had less than 30 percent damage, Butler has mostly left it alone, instead directing his attention to the pest, wildlife and fire management issues he can still address. In the ensuing three months, the work of clearing wood has pushed his burn schedule back by almost a year, and 53 acres were damaged so severely that he will have to clear-cut them and apply for a partial reimburse- ment through the Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP).
Below: Damage done to Joe Butler’s property by Hurricane Michael.
Overall, Butler calculated that about 13 percent of his timber was either blown down, snapped off or totally destroyed by the fall 2018 storms. This was in addi- tion to mature trees — between 15 and 50 years old — whose market value was significantly diminished due to scar-
ring or bending, and which are likely to be sold as chip-n-saw or pulpwood. A few months later, the logging crew was able to quickly cut damaged hardwoods, which they later broke down into chips and sold to a nearby fuel plant, but most of the downed longleafs were worth too
JOE BUTLER