What do you do with tornado-damaged trees?

The Virginia Department of Forestry offers some tips about what to do with storm-damaged trees in the following press release:

Recent tornado activity has seriously damaged several acres of privately-owned forestland in Shenandoah County.

"We are still assessing the overall damage, but it is safe to say that several hundreds of acres of forestland have been severely impacted by these recent storms" said Justin Barnes, Shenandoah County Forester.

Some of the largest and most valuable trees have either been twisted and broken by the rotation of the tornado or were merely laid flat by straight-line winds. Many area landowners are now facing many decisions as to how to move forward and help their woodlands recover from this damage.

"There are several options for forest landowners as they try to recover their losses due to this violent weather" said Barnes.

Landowners can market their downed trees directly to timber buyers in an effort to salvage these trees before they begin to rot.

For those landowners with many acres of damage, the services of a consulting forester may be useful. Consulting foresters will assist the landowner by assessing the damage, develop a summary of the economic losses and also help the landowner in the marketing of this potentially valuable resource.

Lists of local timber buyers and consulting foresters are available upon request from the Virginia Dept. of Forestry at 459-3151

The Va. Dept. of Forestry is also willing to make on-site visits to view storm-damaged trees and advise landowners on the marketing of this timber, casualty loss tax advice, reforestation needs and the future management of their forest land.

The Virginia Department of Forestry protects and develops healthy, sustainable forest resources for Virginians. Headquartered in Charlottesville, the Agency has forestry staff members assigned to every county to provide service to citizens of the Commonwealth. VDOF is an equal opportunity provider.

With nearly 16 million acres of forestland and more than 144,000 Virginians employed in forestry, forest products and related industries, Virginia forests provide more than $27.5 Billion annually in benefits to the Commonwealth.