Forest Owner Hardships After Hurricane Michael
Across the U.S., families own the largest portion of forests, not the federal government or corporations. What’s more, their hard work makes a positive impact far beyond their property lines. Family-owned forests support the clean water supply that flows to the faucets of millions of Americans. They provide critical habitat for our wildlife, including at-risk species. Moreover, they provide more than 50 percent of the nation’s wood supply and support more than 1.1 million rural jobs.
After disasters strike, such as hurricanes and wildfires, family forest owners not only need to rebuild their homes and lives but their forests as well. However, the destruction caused by these events is often too extreme and the costs too high for many landowners to handle on their own. They need outside support and access to resources to help restore their forests.
Take, for example, Alison and Jim Browne.
After 27 years of service in the Air Force, the Brownes settled down near Clarksville, Florida on 400 acres of land 60 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico. They wanted a place where they could enjoy the outdoors, conserve the land, and share their love of nature. However, they got more than they bargained for when Michael, the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane tore through the Florida panhandle.
The property had been a dormant fox hunting pen before they purchased it in 2015. It was mainly slash pine trees, with several ponds and a stream, and an old camp house that could suffice as living quarters until a permanent home could be built.
After settling in, they called their county forester and put together a forest management plan for ‘Fox Pen Farm’ as they named it, with a focus on conservation and restoration, as well as income to sustain them during retirement.
Immediately after, they set to work, renovating the existing infrastructure on the property and purchasing necessary equipment such as a tractor. They cleared fire breaks and built trails to navigate the property. They renovated the pond system, cleared out debris and had a bridge constructed over the stream for accessibility. Countless hours were spent clearing brush, repairing fences and removing invasive species such as cogon grass. All this hard work they did themselves, enjoying the sweat equity they were putting into the land.
In 2016, they began working with the Florida Forest Service to plant longleaf pine. Longleaf, a native pine tree of the region, was in sharp decline and needed restoration for wildlife. Thanks to an Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) grant, they were able to put 41,000 seedlings in the ground.
Jim and Alison were certified in the American Tree Farm System that same year, posting their green and white sign at their front gate to showcase their sustainable forest management.
Over time, there were hurricanes in the Gulf, but no direct hits came to their area. Then in October 2018, they began to watch the weather channel closely as a storm named Michael gathered force.
In town, the residents, many of whom had lived in Calhoun County much longer, said things like ‘We are too far inland, people evacuate to here,’ and ‘How bad could it be?’ Regardless, the Brownes boarded their windows, secured their equipment and stocked up on water.
When the storm made landfall, it had escalated to a category five hurricane. Hitting landfall with 150-mile-an-hour winds, the eye of the storm went directly over Clarksville and the Brownes’
“The storm was 4 hours of sustained fear,” Jim said. “As an Air Force fighter pilot, I spent a third of my flight time in combat, but until those hours in the storm, I had not feared for my life or my family’s lives like that.”
The Brownes themselves were fortunate to make it through the hurricane. But the destruction to their home, barn, and forest was pure devastation. After several weeks without power and no access to the road due to fallen debris, the Florida Forest Service brought a saw team and helped the Brownes clear the road and the fire breaks.
Of their Tree Farm, 200 acres of forestland was destroyed. The younger longleaf pines survived, but a large portion of their mature standing pines and the 100-year-old oak trees were gone.
A before and after shot of Jim and Alison Browne's forest land after Hurricane Michael.
Their consulting forester estimated it was $225,000 worth of timber lost. Making it worse, the soil remained too wet for months afterward, preventing a logger from taking the timber while it was still of value. At an average of $2,000 - $4,000 an acre to remove the debris, the Browne’s were unable to afford the cleanup.
The Browne’s were not the only landowners affected. More than 5 million acres of forestland across the panhandle were lost and 17,000 landowners affected during Hurricane Michael.
While the Brownes remain optimistic, many of their neighbors may decide that it is too costly to replant in trees.
“Hurricane Michael set us back ten years. The work and cost are overwhelming. We need help and hope that there will be options for landowners like ourselves to do what's right and restore this important ecological region and habitat."
Help support landowners like the Brownes by asking your Senators and Representatives to support disaster recovery aid today.