The woods. They swallow things up. Once you start on a familiar winding trail you can feel the stew that was boiling over in your head simmer down to a pleasant lukewarm. Instead of deadlines, computer screens, traffic lights demanding your attention, you have been released and entranced by the weeble-wobble branches, the wildlife charades, and the sun’s all-day laser light show as it severs the canopy. You need the woods . . . and sometimes the woods need you. In May of 2000, one of nature’s bullies came along and made one heck of a mess in Guilford’s woods. A massive storm swept the area, jostling our woods into submission. It uprooted trees, creating gaping ditches for all kinds of nastiness to fester in, and it made our woods no longer safe to unwind in. Somebody needed to deal with this mess, and that somebody was John Jenkins.
“Mother Nature did its thing,” said Jenkins, the Associate Chief Financial Officer for Facilities here at Guilford. “Really what we’re doing here is good forest management.”
The storm caused the Guilford woods to reach a dangerous fuel load level, meaning that all of the fallen trees and mangled brush had become susceptible to forest fires.
“ One of the main issues was fire prevention,” said Frank Dietch, an alumni of Haywood Technical Forestry School in Clyde, North Carolina, who is working alongside Jenkins on this project. “We know people like to see the woods left as is, but we have a safety issue here, and we need to get the dead, dying or down trees out of there to reduce the risk of fire.”
Jenkins hired Leonard Strickland, a logger of 35 years to do the dirty work. Strickland is using a rubber tire log skidder, which is easier on the forest floor, and is taking extra good care in maneuvering about the woods. All of the wood collected, which is classified as “low grade” timber, is being sold to a small lumber mill.
One major problem Strickland faces is the uprooted trees that have created “root balls.” Root balls occur when the roots of larger trees are ripped entirely from the ground, leaving craters where water collects. These pools are perfect for harboring insects such as mosquitoes. Leonard has to lop off the tops off the fallen giants and ease the root balls back into the holes to prevent such pests from arriving.
Frank Dietch says that they are not just taking away from the woods. “ Eventually we would like to get in there and plant some stuff, maybe sow some clover. And I think all of this might open up some deer trails and invite them in.”
Jenkins said that in addition to his own concerns some of Guilford’s closest neighbors were asking for the woods to be cleaned up as well. A forest fire could easily spread to some of the houses on the outskirts of the woods. “You know you’ve got to realize the liability issues here too,” said Jenkins. “ I guess we’re trying to be good neighbors.”
With all we owe the woods for those times it has kissed our boo-boos and made us feel better we should help it get back on its feet this time around.