Landowners Begin Assessing Tornado Damaged Trees

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• Storm Damage Informational Meetings

The storm downed tall, massive trees on Bob Markarian's property in Epsom. (Fred Borman, Rockingham County Forester)

"It started on those trees over there, took down a couple of neighbors trees, hopped over to Beaver Pond, took down those trees, those trees over there..."

Bob Markarian describes the devastation the tornado caused to his 30 acre wooded property in Epsom.

"We’re looking at somewhere between 1200 and 2000 trees came down, and the quality of these trees range from a veneer grade oak, down to pine, scrub pine or chip pine."

Like many landowners, Markarian is just beginning to assess the cleanup.

He called Merrimack County Forester Tim Fleury to tour his property.

(sound of walking)

As he steps into the woods, broken branches from trees snap beneath his feet.

Fleury says landowners shouldn’t begin to clear their trees without first recognizing the danger the tornado caused.

He stops when he sees five toppled trees about 100 feet in length, hovering just above his head.

Forestry officials say clearing damaged trees like these can be extremely dangerous as well as costly. (Fred Borman, Rockingham County Forester)

"You’re looking at a massive blow down on top of some young pine about 4 inches in diameter, the young pine and young hardwoods are holding these trees up so if you try to cut these trees with a chain saw, it’s going to explode, it’s called a springpole."

Fleury says even professional loggers are reluctant to cut this mess.

Rockingham County Forester Fred Borman, who is walking the property too, says he’s seen first hand what can happen in this situation.

"It’s instantaneous, and if it hits you under the chin, or hits you in the leg, it’s going to break a leg, it’s going to break a jaw, it’s going to break your neck and death is possible"

This is what a lot of the damage from the tornado is like.

The state estimates the July 24th tornado ripped through 8400 acres of property in five counties.

UNH Cooperative Extension Forester Karen Bennett says there is a massive amount of downed trees.

"We have estimates anywhere from ten to 20 million board feet, blown down, ten to 20 million board feet would be something that a pretty good size sawmill or two would consume in a year."

How much of that timber has real value is very difficult to answer and many factors can turn what had been a valuable tree into mere scrap.

Fleury says to harvest the trees that are downed and still in good enough shape for saw logs will require professionals with heavy equipment.

That’s if they can even reach the spot.

"This tree has a value, it’s a nice big oak but the ability of getting in and removing it safely is going to be very difficult and in many cases the small material is going to exceed the cost or any revenue its going to bring in"

(more walking)

We come to a cluster of white pine trees standing like pencils in the ground... no tops, no branches.

Winds from the tornado snapped the trees in half. Time is a real factor if someone wants to harvest them.

Fleury says white pines like these are particularly susceptible to blue stain, a fungus that can destroy the tree’s value.

A tree snapped in half by the storm. These trees must be harvested quickly to be of use, and even then can only be used in some ways, such as chip wood for biomass. (Fred Borman, Rockingham County Forester)

"A lot of that wood is going to go bad fairly quickly... insects are going to get into these trees and stains are going to get into these especially during the hot summer weather the concern is how much is salvageable and how quickly do we need to get it"

The tornado had a particular trick up its sleeve that did property owners no favors.

Unlike a typical storm that simply pushes trees over, the tornado’s twisting action literally shattered many trees.

Fleury points to a huge oak.

"See how strong this is and it’s just turned to splinters standing in the woods, it was the sheer wind force but also the torquing and twisting of the trees."

Fleury says splintered trees will likely end up as chip wood for biomass because sawmills won’t take them.

We then come to a newly formed clearing up on a hill.

"We’re looking at a pinestand, a nice healthy young pinestand that looks like a lawnmower ran through it about 20 feet tall."

There’s no doubt a tornado touched down here – it’s a circle of destruction.

Some trees lay north to south, others lay east to west.

Small pieces of debris from homes half a mile away are scattered on the ground – a child’s toy truck... a Trivial Pursuit card.

Foresters say damage like this – even for large property owners - will take a long time to clean up.

The tornado wiped out almost every tree in front of Mark Turgeon’s lot in Deerfield. (Fred Borman, Rockingham County Forester)

Smaller property owners like Deerfield resident Mark Turgeon are overwhelmed.

His log cabin home was damaged, and he didn’t get phone service back until late last week.

Turgeon owns nine acres on what was once a wooded and secluded parcel.

"I had no intention of clearing my lot, I can tell you that."

The tornado wiped out almost every tree in front of his house.

"We took a lot of time trying to find a piece of property that was secluded where nobody could build around us you know we wanted something private, something you really couldn’t see from the roadway, now it feels like someone just raised a curtain."

But it’s not just the privacy Turgeon lost; it may have ruined his long-term financial planning

He had hoped to selectively harvest his woodlot in the future – to supplement his retirement 20 years from now.

"The sad thing is a lot of my lumber I was looking at long term, maybe thin out the woods later on toward retirement age, now I’m kind of forced to do something with it and I wasn’t going to for a long time – many years to come."

All that’s left now is a tangled mess of trees lying on the ground.

Turgeon guesses about 30 percent of them are only good for firewood. But actually, he doesn’t really know what he’s got left.

He’s wary of the offers he’s received so far.

"Everybody wants to come in wants to charge me and take the wood, which to me is unacceptable, I won’t even think of that, to me, that’s just not right."

It will be hard for landowners to know what has value and what’s now worthless.

Public meetings start this week to help property owners figure it out.

For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.