'This forest is a different place now’ — Chad Sanders, Mohican State Forestry manager

The devastation caused by the June 13 and 14 storms in Ashland and Richland counties and the ensuing clean-up operations will have a lasting impact for decades on Mohican State Forest.

The National Weather Service confirmed that four F1 tornadoes touched down in Ohio with the storm impacting Mohican State Forest.

One F1 tornado with maximum winds of 105 mph resulted in some level of damage to the entire forest ranging from individual trees down or broken or entire areas of timber on the ground.

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“All trails were impacted,” said Chad Sanders, Mohican State Forestry manager. “Over 50 miles on the state forest and 10 or so miles on the state park. As of today, most of the state park trails are open. 20 miles of horse trails will open Aug. 1 on the state forest. More miles will be open in the weeks of August.”

Sanders spoke to the three county commissioners at the July 28 meeting about the process of salvaging the downed trees.

“In order to open up some of the recreational trails, we need to do some salvage,” he said. “But also that timber laying on the ground is valuable. We want to show that we are good stewards of that resource and not let it go to waste.

“And that is why I am here today," he added. "As you know Ohio Revised Code 1503 states that the county and township and the school district gets part of that timber revenue.”

County, township, school district to receive timber money

ORC states that 65% of the net timber revenue from state forests will be distributed.

“Of the 65%, it is split this way,” Sanders said. “50% to the school district, 25% to the county and 25% to the township. So Ashland County, Loudonville-Perrysville Schools and Hanover Township would get a distribution.”

Sanders also added that some trails will not be able to be opened until salvage harvesting occurs.

“That is another reason this salvage is so critical,” he said.

He also explained that Mohican is a big hunting destination and as of now there are just some areas that are inaccessible.

“We want to get hunting access, get wildlife habitat going and get the forest started over,” said Sanders.

Sanders said the process of salvaging will be closely monitored.

“Safety is our top priority and since this is a very popular forest we need to do lots of work to provide a safe place for trail users and fall hunters.

The process to hire a logging company is lengthy.

“There are all kinds of mitigation for erosion control and everybody on site must be trained.” he said. “It is a lengthy contract that they sign. We do more than anybody else. And rehabilitating the site when it is over is part of the plan when they are done.”

Several units will be laid out, some smaller and some larger, that will be offered for sale, and those with the highest bid, that meets all the requirements, will be considered.

“They have to be a trained master logging company and then sign the contract,” he said. “Conceivably there could be multiple bids.”

Almost 500 acres are severely damaged at Mohican State Forest

Sanders said the amount of damage is measured in acres. There is approximately 480 acres of severe damage with more than 75% of the trees down. The proximity for salvaging add up to about 388 acres this first year. Another 56 acres are lower priority for next year. And there are 88 acres of damage that will not be salvaged because of high conservation values around them.

Although he could not say for sure of the approximate value of the trees, Sanders said it would probably be over seven figures.

“All together you are looking at 5,700 acres in the state park,” he said. “I would say that all 5,700 were impacted. It is a tremendous amount of work to do. We have a nstewardship obligation. These forest resources belong to the public and the local governments get financial proceeds. Therefore, we need to do our best to capture the timber value before it rots away.

“This forest is a different place now. It doesn’t look the same. This is the hand we were dealt. So do we let it look like this forever or do we manage it to restore it to what is once was?”

ODNR to hold meeting at Loudonville Library

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources will be hosting a meeting at Loudonville Public Library on Aug. 25 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

“We hold open houses every year and we’ve done them for 30 years or more,” said Sanders. “Open houses show our public our plans for forest management on all our state forests for the upcoming year. It is a casual, come-and-go event. Anyone can come and ask us questions.”

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Mohican Forest clean-up to include timber harvesting