The Army Corps of Engineers will conduct emergency salvage operations on 250 acres of mostly mature timber along Thurmond Lake damaged or destroyed by last weekend's tornado.
"A lot of it is in out-of-the-way places, but there is a lot of damage at Broad River, a fair amount of damage at the Elbert County subdivision shoreline and also at Bobby Brown State Park," Chief Ranger Allen Dean said.
Foresters conducted surveys along the reservoir's 1,200-mile shoreline after a twister passed through Saturday.
"The damage is a mix -- from 90 percent of everything down or damaged, down to just a few scattered trees," he said.
Some areas, particularly at Broad River Wildlife Management Area, involved mature timber set aside as wildlife habitat.
"A lot of it was bottomland hardwoods or a mix of pine and hardwoods," he said. "Typically these are areas we don't harvest because they are of high wildlife value."
The corps has begun contacting loggers who participate in the project's regular forest management programs, in which timber ready for harvest is offered to the highest bidders.
"It's a lot like a regular harvest operation, but we compress the time since it's an emergency sale," he said.
Instead of having several months to start and a year to complete, it will be more like starting in a few days and finishing as soon as possible since the trees are already on the ground."
Once timber is removed from damaged areas, the acreage will be replanted.
Reach Rob Pavey at 868-1222, ext. 119 or rob.pavey@augustachronicle.com.
Comments
The Corp cut a lot of trees in the Big Hart Creek area and not one penny was put back into the boat ramp, parking space or dock. This area has not been updated or enlarged in about 20 years. The parking area is full during fishing season and the summer and with the large pickup trucks and SUVs there is little room to back your trailer or move around.
I am proud of the corp. They will proably use the money to clear approach paths for the Iegal Mexicans to get in and out of the U.S. easier. i started to go to work for the Corp. years ago but I did not qualify. 1-I was not a Compulsive Liar 2- i did not rank in the top 5 people in my Home town for being known as the Village idiot. The army officers in the Corp you have to be ranked in the top 1% of the Village idiots in the Army to Qualify. Would it not make you proud to tell your Grandchildren I fought in the battle of Clarkshill and yes kids we won. We finally killed every Fish in the lake and took out the few Bald Eagles with the with our Hydrilla spraying tactics.
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