![]() ![]() Usually, forests recover relatively quickly from these disturbances. Understanding Hurricane Recovery in Coastal ForestsĬoastal forests along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts are subjected to high winds from tropical storms and hurricanes on a fairly frequent basis-on average, across coastal areas, at least once every few years. Photo credit: The Jones Center at Ichauway. ![]() They also want to answer the critical question: what should forest managers be doing now?ĭamage still lasts from Hurricane Michael in 2018. The researchers at The Jones Center are working to understand these structural changes and monitor the recovery of the longleaf pine ecosystem. The hurricane substantially changed the overall structure of the forest, leaving large gaps in the canopy in some places while leaving other areas largely intact. “Legacies of the hurricane will remain in some of these areas for decades to come.” “In some areas, it’s like a ropes course walking through the tangled downed tree crowns,” Jeffery says. There are also splintered tree stumps, “tip-up” mounds where root balls were pulled from the earth, and slash piles of unharvestable wood and brush throughout the less accessible areas of the forest. While most timber and debris have been removed near roads, thousands of downed trees remain in areas that were not accessible for the logging trucks. Nearly two years later, the legacy of the hurricane can still be clearly seen by those who know what to look for. After the storm, more than 4500 truckloads of recoverable timber were removed from the site, according to the conservation coordinator at the Jones Center, Brandon Rutledge.ĭowned trees at The Jones Center at Ichauway in the wake of Hurricane Michael in 2018. Jeffery and his colleagues estimate that 15-20% of the total trees across the preserve were downed by hurricane-force winds. Hurricane Michael left the landscape significantly changed. The 30,000-acre preserve (the host for NEON’s JERC field site) is dedicated to the conservation of this unique ecosystem and development of sustainable forest management practices. The Jones Center is home to one of the largest mature longleaf pine and wiregrass ecosystems remaining in the southeast. The Legacy of Hurricane Michael at The Jones Center He and his colleagues will use the results to develop tools to help forest managers plan restoration and conservation efforts. Jeffery Cannon, a Forest Management Scientist at The Jones Center, is using remote sensing data from the NEON program to understand how longleaf pine forests are impacted by and recover from major weather events. But with winds still at 100 mph (160 km/h), the storm had a dramatic impact on the longleaf pine ecosystems at The Jones Center. By this time, Michael had been downgraded to a category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale and was rapidly weakening into a mere tropical storm. The Jones Center at Ichauway, located in southern Georgia 128 miles to the northeast of landfall, took a direct hit from Michael several hours later. With maximum sustained wind speeds of 160 mph (260 km/h), it has been ranked as one of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes to make landfall in the U.S. Michael also produced at least 16 tornadoes, though they caused only minor damage.On October 10, 2018, Hurricane Michael slammed into the Florida Panhandle as a category 5 hurricane. It brought storm surge flooding elsewhere in Florida, as well as along portions of the North Carolina and Virginia coasts. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's analysis found that storm surge brought water 9 to 14 feet above normal level along parts of the Panhandle and reached the highest levels at Mexico Beach. were the Labor Day Hurricane in 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. The other two Category 5 hurricanes on record in the mainland U.S. Six months later, some businesses have reopened, but the area is far from recovered. In Mexico Beach, more than three-quarters of the homes were flattened by winds. Hurricane Michael is the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall on the Panhandle, and it devastated communities there. Before arriving in Florida, the storm passed over western Cuba as a Category 2 hurricane. It caused 16 deaths and $25 billion in damage in the U.S. Michael made landfall near Mexico Beach and Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. National 'Struggling Here With Just Living' In The Aftermath Of Hurricane Michael
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