NRCS Assistance Available to Recover Forest Trees Downed by Storm

COLUMBIA, MO – Owners of forest land in 11 Missouri counties are eligible for financial assistance from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to remove and store trees blown over or damaged by a severe storm on May 8. They may apply for assistance until June 26.

Dwaine Gelnar, acting state conservationist, says initial projections indicate that trees on more than 500,000 acres were blown over by strong winds and tornadoes in the following counties: Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Dent, Iron, Madison, Perry, Reynolds, St. Francois, Shannon, Texas and Washington. NRCS financial assistance is available only for affected areas within those counties.

“This storm was responsible for damage that exceeded anything that we have seen in recent years,” Gelnar says. “There are large areas where nearly every tree was blown over.”

Gelnar says NRCS has $1 million available through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) that Missouri landowners can apply for to help them pay the costs of having the downed trees removed from the woods and properly stacked on log landings. The agency also would offer financial assistance for constructing the log landings.

Doug Wallace, NRCS state forester, says the log landings offer landowners a way to store logs until a time when they might be more marketable.

“The wood products industry is depressed right now, and there is very little demand for trees,” he says. “But if logs are stacked properly, they can last two years. That allows landowners the flexibility of entering trees into the marketplace gently.”

Wallace says a side benefit would be helping the local economy by providing work to the private logging companies that would be hired to do the work. He adds that assistance could be available later to help landowners re-establish trees.

“This is considered the first phase of a continuing effort, if the landowners are interested,” Wallace says. “After we get the damaged trees removed, the forest can start regenerating, or we can help the forest regenerate.”

To get more information and to apply for assistance, contact the NRCS office serving the county where your land is located. Look in the phone book under “U.S. Government, Department of Agriculture,” or access this website: http://offices.usda.gov. You can also get information about NRCS programs online at http://www.mo.nrcs.usda.gov/programs.

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