Hurricane Damage

[GaBoy]

Have 50 Acres of slash damaged by Helene (S. GA). Looking for advice on best approach to salvage as much as possible. 40 acres lightly damaged and 10 acres moderately damaged. Currently cutting and stacking for milling. How long will the logs keep for milling? Is there any way to preserve or protect the logs from insects? Best spray? Have found a few trees with beetle evidence. Is the best approach to get all trees on ground cut and stacked then do leaners and debris cleanup?
Any thoughts would help.
Thanks,
God Bless

[beenthere]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum. 

Sounds like a huge task, and wonder what  your experience has been with logging and marketing your wood? 

Equipment? 

Markets?

Time?

Milling your own logs? 

Bummer that the storm put you in this predicament. 

[customsawyer]

Need a little more info for best advice. I can't be to far north of you. Where in GA. are you? What is your plans with the wood? What all equipment do you have to work with? What experience do you have? Are you milling them yourself on site? Hiring a portable mill to come in and saw them on site? Taking them to a mill to have sawed?
One of the first things I try to tell customers bringing me logs, is to cut them all in just a couple different lengths. It makes things a lot harder to stack or sort if you have several different lengths.

[Riwaka]

Georgia Forestry Association posted a video on the Hurricane Helene cleanup. There is a damage map about 5 minutes in that shows the damage path of the Hurricane.
Must be fairly risky for the logging contractor to upgrade from a rubber tire cutter to the B457 flat bottom track cutter, knowing the mill is going cut off the down wood in a short time.
GFA - hurricane cleanup
https://youtu.be/8LBEE0ZGdDo?si=fhOEuRSzDmtNAGfQ

Pushing small trees with bulldozers Australia in sandy soil?
https://youtu.be/nzr4MQcIB24?si=NgUwR8kkjcat5C0E

[GaBoy]

Sorry didn't respond earlier. Tied up for a couple of days.
The location is Baxley, GA. Current plan is to get the wood that is on the ground, cut, stack, and find a sawyer. I have a person to contact but have not talked with him yet. I'm guessing he will be like everyone else - overwhelmed. Hope to make contact later this week. As to equipment - have 35hp tractor with grapple, another compact with log tongs, saws, and sore muscles😀. Have been cutting in 3 lengths baded on log size vs tractor capability. One day at a time!

[customsawyer]

Yup, you're about a hour away from me.
I will recommend you figure out what you want to cut out of the logs. If you don't really need the wood there's no point in throwing good money down the drain just to salvage it. By this time there will be some blue stain getting into the logs. It doesn't hurt the wood but some people love the look of it and some hate it. My advice would be to make 1x for siding or paneling. 2x4s and 2x6s are rather cheap right now so you won't save much by sawing them, depending on the sawyer's rates. If you are going to make paneling then it would be best if you get it to a kiln before you plane it. Some with a kiln will also be able to plane it for you too.
Use the search button at the top of this page and learn the proper way to stack with stickers.Most answers will be in the Sawmills and Milling board.  It will save lots of headaches later. If you are wanting to get the lumber dried and finished, then find where you are going to take it to, before you saw it. Lots of places will only dry and finish it, if they get to cut it. I take in some other folks lumber, but I won't give a price until I look at the lumber. Normally it ends up costing the customer more to have me "fix" their lumber than it would have if I had done the sawing. Some of it can't be fixed. Keep asking questions and we'll keep trying to answer them.

[GaBoy]

Thanks for the response. The info helps. Plan to talk to a local sawyer today and go from there.
Used to live in the big city of Cadwell so know where you are. Looked at your web page. Looks like you do a great business and offer much to customers.
Thanks again for the advice.
God Bless