The J. Strom Thurmond Lake Project, managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, continues its mission to salvage timber in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, and is pivoting operations from wilderness areas to recreation areas.
Located on the Savannah River 22 miles upstream from Augusta, Georgia, the Thurmond Project 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 on Sept. 27, 2024, as Hurricane Helene traveled across Georgia and South Carolina.
Immediately following the storm, Thurmond Project crews rapidly mobilized to clear trees and other debris from primary roads, facilities, and critical infrastructure using operations and maintenance funds.
Currently, two distinct hurricane recovery efforts are underway at the Thurmond Project, debris removal and timber salvage.
"To the public, these missions may appear similar, but they are actually quite different," explained Adam Weatherford, USACE Chief of Forest, Fish and Wildlife at the Thurmond Project. "One of the key differences lies in the merchantability of the materials involved."
Timber salvage focuses on recovering valuable timber that can be sold to mills, while debris removal is the process of cleaning up fallen trees, branches, leaf litter, and other organic matter that has no market value.
"When loggers salvage timber, they remove fallen and damaged trees at no cost to the Thurmond Project, and they actually pay for the timber," said Weatherford. "In contrast, debris removal comes with a significant cost, as it is funded entirely by the Thurmond project. The more timber we can salvage, the greater the savings for the Thurmond Project and ultimately, freeing up funds for infrastructure repairs in these areas."
The timber salvage mission began with the forestry management team conducting a comprehensive assessment of the hurricane’s impact on the site's forested areas. This included estimating the volume of downed timber and creating timber harvest availability maps. Using this data, the team issued solicitations on the open market for competitive bidding. Once the sales are finalized, the salvaged timber is hauled to mills for processing.
Initially, timber salvage efforts were focused in wilderness areas because removing trees from recreation sites poses a higher risk of damaging infrastructure, according to Joshua Crocker, resident forester at the Thurmond Project. This makes the salvage process in recreation areas slower, increases operational costs for loggers, and reduces the revenue generated for the Thurmond Project.
The Thurmond Project team anticipated using emergency supplemental funding to contract debris removal specialists to clear recreation areas.
As the Thurmond Project team waits to receive emergency supplemental funding, timber salvage operations are now being shifted by the Thurmond Project into select recreation areas to aid in the reopening of these sites to the public.
Timber salvage work has begun at the Ridge Road Campground located 15 miles from the Lake Thurmond Visitor Center and Dam.
“Once the trees have been removed from the campground the infrastructure buried underneath can be evaluated by the park operations team and repaired as funding becomes available. This will accelerate the opening of the park for public use,” said Weatherford.
A total of approximately 98,500 tons of timber have been salvaged from the Thurmond Project’s forests and sent to mills to date, according to Crocker. The breakdown of the salvaged timber by product is as follows: 50,000 tons of sawtimber, 10,000 tons of pine pulpwood, 7,000 tons of hardwood, and 31,500 tons of wood chips.
Revenues generated from the sale of forest products are an important source of funding for the Thurmond Project’s natural resources management programs, including the planting of new trees.
“There has been a lot of hard work to get these areas cleaned up as quickly as possible. However, this catastrophic event will impact the Thurmond Project for many years,” said Crocker. “The Thurmond Project will continue to manage the forest in a manner that prioritizes public interests, forest health, and benefit wildlife.”
The fallen trees and debris have rendered many forested areas inaccessible and unsafe for public use and will remain closed until the hazards are removed.
For a full list of areas open to the public visit:
https://www.sas.usace.army.mil/About/Divisions-and-Offices/Operations-Division/J-Strom-Thurmond-Dam-and-Lake/
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