The fallen forests: Legacy of Storm Klaus over Eucalyptus, Pines and Poplars of South-Western Europe

Gone with the Wind

Some days after Storm Klaus hit the Northern coast of Spain and landed in Southwestern France, disruptions of daily life slowly disappear. Road blocks removed, power is being restored and rebuilding of damage to buildings and urban infrastructure slowly progresses. But out there, beyond the main roads, a vast catastrophe remains.

Gone with the wind, some of the most productive forests in Europe. Impacts in the short and medium term to rural economies and industrial wood supply are yet to be seen. The time to clean up the mess has come. It cannot be delayed. But with it, the time to start forest rebuilding must also come. It cannot be forgotten.

Galicia, Northwestern Spain

Fig. 1: Damage caused by Storm Klaus to coastal Eucalyptus globulus plantations in the Northern Coast of Galicia (Northwestern Spain). (Photo courtesy Juan Picos / Asociación Galega Monte-Industria / Wikisilva. Click image to enlarge)

Fig. 2: Uprooted and stem-broken Maritime Pines in coastal timberlands after sustaining winds in the range of 135 to 195 km/h from Storm Klaus. (Photo courtesy Juan Picos / Asociación Galega Monte-Industria / Wikisilva. Click image to enlarge)

Fig. 3: Heavy damage to Eucalyptus nitens plantations on boggy soil pockets in the plateaus of inland Galicia (NW Spain) after +50 mm rainfall plus +135 km/h winds brought by Storm Klaus. (Photo courtesy Juan Picos / Asociación Galega Monte-Industria / Wikisilva. Click image to enlarge)

Fig. 4: Uprooted and stem-broken Radiata Pines in the plateaus of inland Galicia after sustaining winds in the range of 100 to 135 km/h from Storm Klaus. (Click image to enlarge)

Les Landes, Aquitaine, France

Fig. 5: Uprooted Maritime Pines in Les Landes, the largest forest of its kind in Europe, after sustaining exceeding 175 km/h from Storm Klaus. (Photo courtesy of Reuters & 20 Minutes. Click image to enlarge)

Fig. 6: Near total destruction in Pinus pinaster stands to the west of Bordeaux (Les Landes, Aquitaine) is today the typical landscape feature. (Photo courtesy of Reuters & 20 Minutes. Click image to enlarge)

Fig. 7: +50% levelled Pine stands will require starting over from square one. Operations for wood salvage must start before it rots in the floor if some value is to be recovered. (Photo courtesy of SIPA & 20 Minutes. Click image to enlarge)

Fig. 8: Stormwood salvage operations have started in Aquitaine, but with estimated volumes around 50,000,000 m3, the task could be more challenging than by 1999. (Photo courtesy of Reuters & 20 Minutes. Click image to enlarge)

Haute-Garonne, Midi-Pyrénées, France

Fig. 9: Beyond the Maritime Pine forest of Les Landes, both in Aquitaine and the Midi-Pyrenées regions, an important amount of other cultivated forests used to stand in the Eastwards route of Storm Klaus. Among them, some of the finest poplar forests in France. (Photo courtesy of Eurosilvasur, Observatory of the forest-wood-paper resource of the Southern Atlantic Arc Regions).

Fig. 10: Nearly totaly levelled poplar plantations in the Haute-Garonne (Midi-Pyrénées, France) after 75 mm of rainfall in 3 days followed by +170 km/h winds brought by Storm Klaus. (Photo courtesy Howard Lloyd @ Eucalyptus Passion. Click image to enlarge)

Also in Eucalyptologics...

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UPDATE: Storm Xynthia hits Galician forests... again!

Storm Xynthia - February 2009: Stormwood Inventory for the European Union

Storm Xynthia hits Galician forests by February 2010

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© 2007-2010 Gustavo Iglesias Trabado. Please contact us if you want to use all or part of this text and photography elsewhere. We like to share, but we do not like rudeness.