After a Hurricane: Helping Landowners With Recovery Efforts

After a hurricane, the immediate response is to check on family and friends to ensure the safety of loved ones. Once the risks have been mitigated, homeowners and landowners often begin assessing the damage to their home and property. This can be particularly devastating as inheritances or planned financial decisions have been upended due to a natural disaster. If their forest has sustained damage, figuring out the next steps can be a daunting task, and one that should not be taken lightly. Contacting the experts at American Forest Management is the first step, as we have years of experience in assisting landowners through the entire process of hurricane salvage from start to finish.

Once AFM has been contacted, we will leverage our contacts with loggers to ensure their availability. Then, AFM foresters and land managers will conduct a site visit to assess the extent of the damage. After pinpointing the location(s) with the worst damage, foresters instruct loggers to start there to make sure areas and roads are passable. After removing dangerous safety hazards, foresters turn their attention to the rest of the tract to determine the next steps. Should the site be clear-cut? Will there be 100% salvage? Can parts of the stand be thinned or entirely left alone?

In the event of hurricane salvage, foresters and loggers typically have a window of six months to complete activities before the wood is no longer desirable to the wood mills. Wood on the ground is exposed to several things, making it less desirable to mills, including blue stain or beetles. Southern pine beetles and Ips beetles are attracted to damaged wood, and if left unchecked, they can wreak havoc on the stand or tract by attacking healthy trees. These tracts are continuously monitored for beetle activity to ensure that if something goes awry, we are equipped to handle it immediately. Additionally, rampant wildfires could be an issue due to dead, dry vegetation on the ground. AFM has experience working with the Forestry Commission to install firebreaks and use prescribed burning to reduce fuel loads. We would also ensure that roads are passable so all parts of the tract are accessible for logging, clean up, and reforestation.

When a natural disaster strikes, cleanup is not only an arduous process but also an expensive one. To aid in cleanup, AFM is adept at finding and applying for various cost-share programs to ease the financial burden on landowners. Oftentimes, cost-share programs require documentation (letters, photos, maps, etc.) from a Registered Forester, and our team handles all of these aspects for a landowner. We also assist landowners with casualty loss statements, which can have a sizeable impact on the landowner’s taxes. Since these vary widely by state and county and require significant documentation, having an AFM forester on your side is wise. This process is rather complex, as each entity (federal, state, or non-governmental) has different definitions and understandings of various terms, such as catastrophic, minimal damage, etc. For landowners with large tracts (2,500+ acres), AFM can also provide updated inventory data reflecting reduced volumes, which is critical information for both financial and land management planning. Not only is there cost-share assistance for cleanup, but it also exists for reforestation and replanting projects. While reforestation takes several years, it is a necessary aspect of the recovery process, both for the health and resilience of the forest and also for any habitats and ecosystems.

Although it’s challenging to implement measures that will make forests more resilient to hurricanes, as we might against wildfires, we have partnered with other groups and invested in additional tools to aid in recovery efforts. For instance, our team in Sandersville, GA, partnered with Sky Lab, a German company that provides remote sensing and forestry AI. In this project, Sky Lab took aerial imagery before and after the storm to compare the amount of damage sustained on a tract. There were three tiers: heavy, medium, and light damage, and AFM timber cruised plots in those areas to establish a relationship between aerial imagery and on-the-ground information. Not only did this allow the group to cover a lot of ground quickly, but it also helped determine priorities and aided with casualty loss documentation. AFM’s Sandersville office has also invested in a drone to assist in hurricane recovery, and it is used for harvesting activities and monitoring other signs of concern, especially in regard to beetles and other potential pests and disturbances.

Lastly, reevaluating the goals and objectives for your property after a natural disaster may be in order. Some landowners may find that their current goals are no longer serving them, and they would rather explore other options, including wildlife habitat, recreational licenses, carbon projects, and more. Whatever the landowner decides, AFM is a trusted partner to guide them through the salvage and recovery process.