May Tornado Took Toll on Forests
By Dennis Magee, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa
Jul. 12–DUNKERTON — The property featured 22 acres of impressive oaks. A few towering examples likely started growing 150 years ago.
“There were probably a couple dozen monstrous ones,” Bobby Wheeler says.
Four sentinels guarding the woodland’s northeast corner stood out as particular favorites. They served as a landmark for hunters and were Wheeler’s old friends.
The stand of trees also contained a network of trails wide enough for Wheeler to navigate with an ATV. He maintained the property as a natural playground for his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
“That was what was neat about it in the summer. It was basically like going through tunnels when it leafed over,” Wheeler says.
He and his family were in the basement when a tornado passed on May 25. The National Weather Service estimates the EF5 that devastated portions of Butler, Black Hawk and Buchanan counties was 1.2 miles wide as the storm clipped rural Dunkerton.
The tornado tore through Wheeler’s stand of trees north of town, toppling hardwoods and mangling evergreens.
“Anything that was hard either broke off or tipped over,” Wheeler says.
“It just totally changed the landscape. Everything got lowered by 50 feet, 60 feet maybe.”
Cassie Wheeler remembers her father’s reaction.
“He said he was close to crying.”
Joe Herring, a district forester for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, understands the hurt landowners feel.
“Most people who own woods and spend time in them, most of those people develop an emotional attachment to the property and the land,” he says. “The love of trees is old and has been around a long time.”
Part of Herring’s job is to address what, if anything, might be salvaged in such a situation. First of all, he says, a severely damaged tree may survive.
“You can really batter the hell out of a tree, and it won’t croak and die,” Herring says.
Quality of life, on the other hand, may be an issue.
“If over 50 percent of the canopy or live crown is damaged, the tree will continue to live, but it will not be a good life,” Herring says.
The tree’s growth will be limited, and the plant may be vulnerable to disease.
“Having that kind of damage obviously opens wounds for pathogens and insects to enter,” Herring adds.
Oaks, for instance, will attract nitilud beetles, also known as sap beetles. The bugs feed on sapwood exposed by injury, and their presence increases the risk of oak wilt, a serious fungal infection.
Leaving the tree, and letting nature play out its hand, may not serve what Herring describes as a management plan for a sustainable forest. One option, though not always palatable to property owners, is to remove the damaged trees.
“A salvage harvest,” Herring says, “… which is just like it sounds, to basically salvage what you can.”
“If you have some serious damage, it can be in the timber’s best interest,” he adds.
Owners must then decide what kind of woodland they want.
When mature oak, black walnut and hickory trees fall in Iowa, they typically reveal an understory filled with less-desirable shrubs and trees. Though he hesitates to classify trees as “good” or “bad,” Herring acknowledges land owners are typically less enthusiastic about some species. Those might include hackberry, basswood, ironwood, hawthorn and bitternut hickory.
Unless an owner takes action, those trees could become the dominant species.
Effected landowners should contact a district forester or other professional, Herring says. That person can take stock of the damage, assess what plants remain and analyze the seed source. Together, the forester and land owner can determine a course that will lead to a healthy, mature growth of hardwoods.
“You may have to clear out some of the less-desirable weed trees and replant,” Herring says.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Natural Resources Conservation Service have programs to help. Eligible land owners can take advantage of cost-share programs to rehabilitate woodlands, replant trees and establish windbreaks, according to Shaffer Ridgeway, district conservationist for the NRCS.
The Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program, or WHIP, is a federal initiative. Resource Enhancement and Protection, or REAP, is a state program.
Ridgeway says not all requests will be successful, but his office in Waterloo is the place to start the application process for WHIP and REAP funding. Urban residents will have more success working with city forestry departments or utility companies, which offer incentives to homeowners.
Despite widespread tree damage following the tornado, Ridgeway says interest in replanting has so far been light.
“I think that might be because a lot of people are more concerned about taking care of other things first,” he says.
Time is a factor.
“Any forest management plan is going to inherently involve generations. We work on 80- to 100-year rotations,” Herring says.
That can be a bitter pill. Wheeler realized immediately the forest he knew was gone.
“The shame of it for me is I’ll never see anything like this in my lifetime,” he says.
Landowners, instead, must look ahead, sometimes well beyond the horizon, and consider what type of forest they would like to leave their grandchildren. They can also refine definitions and perspectives.
“There’s still a lot of beauty in a young oak,” Herring says.
—–
To see more of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.wcfcourier.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.