MISSOURI—In October 2021, severe storms, including several tornadoes, moved across Missouri, taking down trees in large swaths of Mark Twain National Forest’s Potosi-Fredericktown Ranger District. Traditionally, this kind of damage would initiate the salvage sale process. That process can take years to complete while logs slowly rot away, causing a large portion to become non-marketable. This time, however, the district used the Disturbance Recovery Project, referred to locally as the Disturbance Environmental Assessment.

This assessment allows the forest to quickly move into an area after a disturbance event, like tornadoes, derechos, flooding or fire, to assess damage and create a salvage project as fast as possible. Instead of decomposing or becoming fuel for future wildfires, these tornado-dropped trees on the Potosi-Fredericktown Ranger District are being turned into goods that directly support the local economy, thanks to this assessment.

The first of two sales, the Turkey Creek Salvage Sale, is predominantly a pine salvage operation, using a direct sale contract through the assessment. About 70 acres of forest land were included in the project. Pine trees were knocked down in every direction, sometimes in twisted piles on top of one another.

Wayne Schremp, purchaser for this salvage sale, said the forest started work in March and was already about 15% complete with the project in June. He expects about 250 truckloads of timber from the sale by its completion. By getting in early, he estimated that about 90% of the pine removed was marketable.

“The Disturbance EA isn’t an easy button or cutting corners; it is simply the right tool to make restoration happen after unexpected damages occur to the forest,” said Becky Ewing, district ranger, Potosi-Fredericktown Ranger District. “It still takes a lot of work, but it provides a much higher percentage of restoration payoff and local economic support for that work.”

Like all Forest Service sales, this was a team effort. Preparation for the project included cultural, wildlife, soils and hydrology, and other environmental specialist input to find an interested purchaser, paint boundaries on the sales, map the unit boundaries, conduct comparison cruise plots in an adjacent undamaged standing pine stand and assemble the contract package.

Most of the pine from the Turkey Creek Salvage Sale is going to Flickerwood Farms, where it will be turned into chipped pine bedding material for animals. The chips will be distributed to 13 states.

To learn more about the Turkey Creek Salvage sale, Thompson Hollow sale and final takeaways, read the full story.