City must deal with timber blow down quickly

by Tryan Hartill

Audio Included…Hit the links to hear a 30 second to 3 min. quote

This according to Mike Barnes, a forestry consultant for the City of Astoria.

The most pressing issue is a 160 acre parcel of land that stretches from pipeline road, North to Irving Ave. and East to Emerald Heights. This area lost 95% of the trees and is classified as “severely damaged”.

The area is a public safety risk because of both fire and injuries as Mike Barnes explained in a presentation to the Astoria City Council on Monday night.

If the City plans to remove the downed timber, reforestation is required within 2 years per State Law, even though the City didn’t contribute to the blow down.

Most of the timber is hemlock and if left alone, it will eventually rot away and give way to new growth, but this will take years and the forest would be off limits to the public for fear of injuries on City owned land.

Hemlock has unique decay properties in that it can be used as pulp if it has been down a year, but has no value after 2 years.

Economics

If the City decides to remove the 160 acre plot of trees, speed is of the essence. A glut will be hitting the market, but as Mr. Barnes explains, the City can beat the glut if it removes the timber before the end of summer. Rough estimates put the net value of the timber at $650,000. The net value subtracts the many costs that are involved with removing timber, such as roads and replanting.

Mayor Willis Van Dusen asked if the aesthetics of having trees was formulated into the value.

The Consultant responded that it’s hard to put a value on something like that, but “the reality is there are no trees left”.

There are numerous other areas of the City where blow down occurred, such as on Lexington, and near Wicki Up Mountain, but right now the priorities lie in the areas that are most dangerous to Astorians and specifically the 160 acre plot of land on top on the hill.

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