HURRICANE IKE TIMBER DAMAGE INFORMATION
Contact Person
Hurricane Ike Timber Damage Report
Map of Texas Timber Damage from Hurricane Ike
Assistance with Assessing Damaged Timber
Hurricane Ike: Income Tax Deduction for Casualty Timber Loss
Timber Salvage Guidelines
Beetles and Storm-Damaged Timber
Invasive Plant Threats
Storing Logs
Compression Wood
Update Tracker
September 16, 2008
September 15, 2008
September 14, 2008
The Forest Resource Development Sustainable Forestry program set the national standard for hurricane timber damage assessment after Hurricane Rita in 2005. Forest inventory analysts are working feverishly on logistics for assessing the forest resource damage in Texas from Hurricane IKE. Contact lmoon@tfs.tamu.edu
Map of Texas Timber Damage from Hurricane Ike
(pdf 605 kb)
Landowners may seek assistance in assessing damage to timberland
Landowners may contact Texas A&M Forest Service (TFS) for technical assistance or advice regarding damage to timberland from Hurricane Ike. Please complete and submit the attached Timberland Storm Damage form or call:
Toll free 1-877-201-6159.
Salvage Guidelines
Hurricane Ike Timber Damage Report
Texas Forest Service strives to provide the most accurate and up-to-date information and technical assistance to landowners on a variety of subjects. With the September 13th East Texas landfall of one of the most destructive storm systems in recent history, Texas A&M Forest Service stood ready to provide timber damage reports to landowners as soon as the imminent danger had passed. The following report is the result of aerial assessments and on-the-ground field tests.
Findings:
- Texas A&M Forest Service found that damage from the storm was evident throughout much of East Texas, with Liberty County in Southeast Texas sustaining the worst timber damage.
- Total volume of timber damaged and affected was estimated to be 612 million cubic feet for a total stumpage value of $351 million. Total damaged and affected acres were 473,000 acres. For perspective, East Texas contains more than 17 billion cubic feet of growing stock timber in 43 counties. Total damaged and affected volume by Hurricane Ike was about nearly 4 percent of the total East Texas growing stock.
Beetles and Storm-Damaged Timber
Invasive Plant Threats
Storing Logs under a Water Sprinkling System
Compression Wood, Leaning Trees and other Related Issues
Hurricane Ike Timber Damage Report(pdf 202 kb)
Hurricane Ike Damage Assessment Presentation(pdf 2 MB)
Economic Impact of Hurricane Ike to the Forest Sector(pdf 14 kb)
Tax Casuality loss from Hurricane Ike(pdf 151 kb)
UPDATE TRACKER
Sept. 16, 2008, 1130 hrs - The Texas A&M Forest Service two-person aerial survey crew aboard a single engine Cessna aircraft assessed damage on forest ecosystems across East Texas where most damage to timber was expected. The survey area was determined based on a preliminary map generated by the Southern Research Station of the USDA Forest Service using reported wind, rainfall and storm duration data. Thirteen East Texas counties were surveyed.
For the first time the Digital Arial Sketch Mapping system was used by TFS in an emergency survey to map the damage and help the pilot follow the flight plan. Damage was assessed from an altitude of 1500 ft cruising at 100 MPH (ground speed).
Damage observed by the crew appeared to be sporadic and dispersed compared to that from Hurricane Rita. While Hurricane Ike covered a much larger area than Rita, wind speedswere lower resulting in more scattered timber damage. Most damage considered of moderate intensity occurred on hardwood stands in Montgomery, Liberty, Jefferson, Hardin, and San Jacinto Counties. In other counties, sporadic, light-scattered damage was observed only in heavily thinned stands and stands recently harvested where seed trees were left. Some damage was also observed at stands edges. Stands managed for Red-cockaded woodpecker in National Forests appeared to be particularly prone to damage. Damage was not observed in the contiguous healthy pine stands not recently thinned.
Sept. 15, 2008, 1500 hrs – Forest Inventory Analysis crews are on the ground today assessing the damage to East Texas timber caused by Hurricane Ike. Six, two-person teams, five from Texas Forest Service and one from USDA Forest Service, are measuring plots throughout East Texas, including Liberty, Montgomery, Polk and Hardin counties, which are believed to be the hardest hit of the major timber counties in Texas.
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Texas A&M Forest Service also has Aleksandar Dozic and Clint Hays surveying the affected area by plane. They are assessing and recording damage to timber by superimposing maps directly on digital aerial images of the landscape using a state-of-the-art sketch mapping system. Largely due to their work, landowners may be able to access a map of Hurricane Ike’s destruction to timber as early as Tuesday, September 16.
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Sept. 14, 2008, 1700 hrs – Texas A&M Forest Service Forest Inventory Analysis crews are staged in Southeast Texas to begin the assessment of timber damage caused by Hurricane Ike. After cursory surveys of Walker, Montgomery and San Jacinto counties on Sunday, crew leaders are taking aerial assessment of the affected area on Monday and will methodically collect ground data beginning Tuesday.
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