Timber Salvage Ongoing At Clarks Hill After Hurricane Helene Damage

A wheeled skidder removes a tree knocked down by extreme winds from Hurricane Helen at the J. Strom Thurmond Lake Project (Clarks Hill Lake).

The J. Strom Thurmond Lake Project, managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, sustained severe damage to its forested areas as Hurricane Helene traveled across Georgia and South Carolina on Sept. 27, 2024.

In a race against time, the Thurmond Project is clearing fallen trees as quickly as possible before the trees die and are no longer able to be sold to timber mills. Revenues generated from the sale of forest products are an important source of funding for the Thurmond Project’s recreation and natural resources management programs.

The fallen trees and debris have also rendered many forested areas inaccessible and unsafe for public use. Most recreation areas, including campgrounds and picnic shelters will remain closed throughout the 2025 season and will not reopen until the hazards are removed.

The Thurmond Project (the reservoir is commonly known as Clarks Hill Lake), is located on the Savannah River 22 miles upstream from Augusta, consists of approximately 79,588 acres of land and 70,714 acres of water. Of that, an estimated 8,500 acres of forest was damaged from extreme wind gusts exceeding 100 miles per hour.

A key factor contributing to the extent of the devastation is that the inland forests of the Thurmond Project seldom experience hurricane-force winds, explained Aaron Murphy, environmental stewardship program manager at Richard B. Russell Lake. As a result, the trees in these forests have not developed the same wind resistance that trees in coastal areas have.

Many of the trees experienced ring shake, where the trees were violently bent, causing the internal growth rings to separate, explained Murphy. As a result, the wood from these trees became unstable and can no longer be used for most high-quality products, as it will splinter when processed through a sawmill.

A significant number of trees, primarily pines, were snapped mid-stem. Without the ability to translocate nutrients, they remained salvageable for only a few weeks.

The treetops or crowns torn off by the wind are sent to pulp mills to be turned into paper products. Smaller debris is either left onsite or scattered across the landscape, where it naturally breaks down and replenishes nutrients in the forest, explained Ean Jones, forester with the Savannah District’s Real Estate Division.

“We did have a fair number of trees that experienced root tilt, where the whole trees were blown over by a straight-line wind and the root is still intact and able to translocate nutrients through the remaining root system, allowing the trees to photosynthesize,” said Murphy. “Those trees can survive typically 4 to 6 months.”

In the immediate aftermath of the storm, Thurmond Project crews rapidly mobilized to clear trees and other debris from primary roads to critical infrastructure and facilities. The forestry management team then began assessing the hurricane’s impact on the site’s forested areas, estimating overall volumes of timber on the ground and generating timber harvest availability maps. Utilizing that information, solicitations are released on the open market for bidding. Once sales are complete the timber is hauled to mills for processing.

A total of 47,151 tons of timber have been salvaged from the Thurmond Project’s forests and sent to mills to date, according to Joshua Crocker, forester at the Thurmond Project. The breakdown of the salvaged timber by product is as follows: 36,138 tons of sawtimber, 6,399 tons of pine pulpwood, 2,290 tons of hardwood, and 1,324 tons of wood chips.

Sawtimber used to make lumber for construction, comes from large, high-quality trees with minimal defects. It’s the most valuable timber product.

Hardwood is derived from generally slow growing dense trees. The wood is strong and durable and the second most valuable. Hardwood is used to make products such as furniture, pallets and slow burning fuel pellets.

Pulpwood is harvested from smaller, lower-quality trees, often unsuitable for lumber. These trees are chipped and chemically treated to make paper products.

Wood chips, created by chipping larger logs, are used for making particle board or as fuel for boilers and heating plants. Wood chips are the least valuable.

The longer fallen trees stay on the ground, the more the wood degrades, or blues, and once trees blue they can only be sold as pulpwood and chips.

“The total revenue generated from selling the salvaged timber to date is approximately $75,000,” said Crocker.

With the abundance of fallen trees in the region following the storm, large volumes of timber suddenly flooded the market, driving down prices.

Crocker further explained that under normal conditions with freshly harvested green wood the revenue would have been around $870,000 for the same tonnage.

Despite the progress made thus far to salvage timber and clear debris from roads and trails, there is a long road ahead for the Thurmond Project to fully recover from this catastrophic disaster.

“With the amount of wood we have on the ground we are looking at what we need to do in the next 15 to 20 years to regenerate our forest and get back to where we need to be,” said Murphy.

A log loader stacks fallen trees onto a truck for transport, at J. Strom Thurmond Lake Project (Clarks Hill Lake). The Thurmond Project, managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, sustained severe damage to its forested areas as Hurricane Helene traveled across Georgia and South Carolina.