Post-Michael Salvage Winds Down

Estimates of successful wood salvage on timberland damaged by Hurricane Michael along the Florida Panhandle and southwest Georgia range from 10-16%, according to some authorities. Making landfall on October 10, 2018 near Mexico Beach in Bay County, Fla., the Category 5 hurricane speared the Gulf Coast with 155-160 MPH winds, leaving some communities still draped in blue tarp and desolate.

Initial reports by Florida Forest Service estimated the value of timber damage at $1.3 billion, pillaging more than 2.8 million acres of forestland either catastrophically (347,000 acres), severely (1.04 million acres) or moderately (1.4 million acres). More specifically, FFS said the storm impacted 500 million trees, 16,000 private landowners and 233 communities (about 4.4 years of annual forest harvest in Florida).

Agriculture Commissioner Nicole (Nikki) Fried announced that the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture has allocated $380.7 million in federal block grant funding for Florida.