Last summer an EF2 tornado struck 11 towns in our area leaving a trail of devastation that will take many years to clean up. Aerial photos show a wide path of downed trees and damage to homes and business. This weather event came after a record breaking wet summer and has compounded challenges to operate in the woods. Adding to this is the series of high intensity storms in previous years that have caused major damage in our local area. Our crews have been instrumental in several cleanup projects that needed to be done in a timely manner. Our equipment uses low impact techniques that leave the land looking better than it did before the storm. We will also clear areas that have a hazard potential.

On Thursday July 24, Jeff and our forester Patrick Kenney had been out looking at an up coming job. They were headed back to the office and had to detour off of Route 4 in Northwood. Their detour led them onto side roads where they encountered trees down across them. Naturally they pulled their chainsaws from the pickup trucks and started clearing the roads for residents to travel through. When they were finally able to get through they learned that a tornado had touched down. After a few phone calls they realized that none of the crews were near the storm and that everyone was safe.

Our crews had done work in or near the storm damaged area in previous years. One of the affected landowners, Van Berkum Nursery in Deerfield had suffered a direct hit. Luckily for them no one on their staff had been hurt by the tornado even though an employee had been out in the storm. Our large mechanical harvesting crew was on site to start cleaning up downed trees on Saturday July 26. Click on this link to learn more about the tornado that caused so much damage in New Hampshire: http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_16563.html

Tornado damaged wood presents a unique challenge, it is twisted from the force of the winds and can burst when cut with a mechanical harvester or when a log is sent through a mill. Clean up is slow due to the wood looking like a giant game of pick up sticks. The important thing that our crew had to do was get the trees picked up, and remove all the potential hazards. This we did in a safe and timely manner. It has been a year since the tornado impacted our state. In that time we have worked on numerous clean up jobs in the area and the force of the storm still amazes us.

If you are impacted with a devastating storm please give our office a call. We have a reputation for working with landowners to get their land cleaned up and back in shape for a healthy forest.