Disturbance Recovery Project on Mark Twain National Forest

The first of these sales is the Turkey Creek Salvage Sale. This predominantly pine salvage operation was able to utilize a Direct Sale contract through the Disturbance EA. About 70 acres of Forest land were impacted and included in this project. Pine trees had been knocked down in every direction, sometimes in twisted piles on top of one another. Wayne Schremp, the puchaser for this salvage sale, said they started work in March and were already about 15% complete with the project in June, and that they expected about 250 truckloads of timber from the sale by its completion. By getting in early, he was finding most of the pine removed was marketable—he estimated about 90%.

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. 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, it was a team effort. Preparation for the project included cultural, wildlife, soils and hydrology, and other environmental specialist input.  Mike Moses, Forest Service Representative, and Brian Merkel, Supervisory Forester (and TMA), led the charge to find an interested purchaser to get the salvage sales in place. Other foresters on the District/Zone played vital roles too. Kyle Flinn and Nick Chapman painted boundaries on the sales, Mike Norris and David Bechtold used GPS to map the unit boundaries. Bechtold and Chapman did comparison cruise plots in an adjacent undamaged standing pine stand, and Bechtold also assembled the contract package. Chris Carl is the timber sale administrator (TSA).

Instead of decomposing or becoming fuel for future wildfires, these tornado-dropped trees were able to be turned into goods that directly supported the local economy through the Disturbance EA. 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. These baled pine chips are distributed to 13 states. Wayne stated that he has seen logs he delivered to Flickerwood get chipped, bagged, shipped, and on the shelf at local markets in just three days before. Some of the pine also goes to Naeger Forest Products, which can fill a wide market, including pallet wood.

Relationships with local loggers are necessary to make the Disturbance EA work.

“People are connected to Mark Twain National Forest that work in this local logging industry,” stated Wayne Schremp. He lives and was raised about ten miles from the Turkey Creek Salvage Sale. He recalled the 2009 derecho was tough for the Forest and community because it knocked down trees on such a wide area that it was difficult to get merchantable timber out in time. He is pleased that this new Disturbance EA can support the local economy while also expediting restoration in the Forest near his home.

Having confidence in the Forest Service's ability to prepare sales in a timely manner has also allowed him to invest in his business to be even more effective at the work he does. He recently bought a feller-buncher equipped with a “danglehead” attachment to increase his ability to retrieve logs from tight spaces. This machine has been invaluable in removing the wind-thrown pine from the area, since a normal feller-buncher wouldn’t be able to get the same angles to cut the tree from the already unearthed root-wads.

“We go through a lot of chains cutting the blowdown trees because of hitting the dirt; but it still speeds things up quite a bit,” Wayne added.

The paths used to skid out storm-downed trees also become places for new trees to grow. While logging the area, the loggers start in a staging area and pick their routes through the damaged trees to create the skid trail for pulling logs out as they go. They compare it to a jig-saw puzzle. The skid trail's path tends to follow the damage, so it minimally impacts the unit. The rubber wheels on the equipment also minimize compaction. Some of the leftover debris from the salvage logging is rolled over and added to the soil in the skidder path, which adds even more organic material to the soil. Skid trails in pine salvage operations in this area usually have thick carpets of pine saplings growing in them within two to three years.

Even after tree removal is complete, more restoration will occur. Loggers will put erosion control measures in place, like creating berms (water-bars) to ensure that the ground can absorb and shed water without erosion. As the Forest regrows, the new trees will provide natural erosion control. In the coming years, this particular salvage area will have timber sale improvement (TSI) work as well.

The second salvage sale occurring under the Disturbance EA on the Potosi-Fredericktown Ranger District is the Thompson Hollow Salvage Sale. This damaged area was in a hardwood stand even though it was not far from the first sale. Although the time press to use the salvage EA was not as strong as in the pines of Turkey Creek Salvage, it was still very important, useful, and beneficial to the Forest and the local economy to perform the salvage as soon as possible. In this part of the Forest, getting the knocked down oak out in time to support natural oak regeneration created the urgency and need for action.

Mark Boland of Boland Logging is the purchaser for this project. He is also a local to the area, living close to the Thompson Hollow Salvage Sale. He will tell you that there is a strong logging community in Perry and St. Genevieve Counties in Missouri, and he is glad to be a part of it. He has worked timber operations on and around the Forest for over ten years for other loggers in the area. This project is his first as the puchaser leading the sale. He runs a family business consisting of himself, his brother, and his son-in-law. He is also friends with a lot of the people he works with that drive the trucks and work at the mills. Most of the wood from the sale goes to Naeger Forest Products and some goes to Angelbeck Forest Products in Marble Hill, Mo.

Mark has been pleased with the purchase of the unit, especially since oak held its value in recently changing markets. He has worked blowdown sales before on the Forest and knows how to be efficient at it. He has opted for hand-cutting out logs with chainsaws in this sale. The oak didn’t fall as crisscrossed as the pine unit had at Turkey Creek, luckily, so they were having an easier time skidding it out.

Mark said he had worked pine for the last six years, so was glad to have a change of pace with the oak salvage. If he can get the knocked-down oaks out in the first years, about 90% of it is marketable. In his experience, after two or three years it drops down to about 50% marketability. It rots slower than pine but doesn’t last forever.

Forest restoration is very important to Mark. His care for the Forest is evident when he shares stories about the animals he has seen while logging in the area. Recently, he has seen deer, a bear, and even got to watch turkeys nesting.

When asked  what he thinks about when starting one of these salvage sales, Mark said, “I want to leave it better than when I came in. I don’t leave any hanging timber in the area, I make sure we clean up the stream courses, and we seed the landing and other areas that need it.”

Getting the wind-thrown oak out and cutting back the damaged trees to stumps in a timely manner also supports potential natural stump regeneration. Having a clear canopy coupled with established root structures of some of the smaller diameter tree sets the perfect conditions for new oak sprouts to quickly re-establish in an area.