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Galicia: Stormwood Inventory (Event Klaus-Jan 2009)

Ground Zero: Northern coastal Eucalyptus forests

Gustavo Iglesias Trabado

GIT Forestry Consulting - Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal- www.git-forestry.com - EUCALYPTOLOGICS

Explosive extratropical cyclone Klaus wiped out the Northern coast of Spain en route to South Western France by the end of January 2009, causing the worst damage to the forests of Galicia in 25 years, including severe effects on some of the most productive timberlands in Europe.

A first inventory coordinated by Galician forestry authorities during February yielded a first official approach to stormwood volumes and their geographical distribution. We bring you today a visual summary of that inventory, depicting localised and scattered stormwood areas, main timber species, geographically related stormwood volumes and the location of the most obvious export facilities.

Spatial distribution of stormwood volumes after damage caused by windstorm Klaus to forestry resources in Galicia / Distribucion espacial de la madera de tormenta tras el daño causado por el huracan Klaus a los recursos forestales de Galicia / Gustavo Iglesias Trabado, GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoria y Servicios de Ingenieria Agroforestal, Lugo, Galicia, España, Spain / Eucalyptologics, Information resources on sustainable eucalypt cultivation worldwide / Recursos de informacion sobre el cultivo sostenible del eucalipto en el mundo

Fig. 1: Spatial distribution of stormwood volumes after damage caused by windstorm Klaus to forestry resources in Galicia (NW Spain). (Click image to get a full size version, free of charge, by request)

Total stormwood volumes in Galicia after Event Klaus are estimated in the range of 1.2 to 1.8 million cubic metres, roughly 55% Pines (mainly P. radiata) and 40% Eucalyptus (mainly E. globulus).

Klaus' Stormwood in Galicia: Key Points

Roughly one third of total stormwood volume is relatively localised around the coastal town of Viveiro, in Northern Lugo province, which becomes "Ground Zero". Even here, damage is scattered at basin level, and also within management units.

Scattered damage means timber extraction has become a slow and dangerous process involving considerably higher costs than usual per salvaged ton, making the less accessible areas difficult to tidy up without incurring on operational losses.

Galician authorities have asigned a relief fund for an amount of 7 million € to help cover these extraordinary harvest and haulage costs and to establish temporary wood yards able to stockpile stormwood for a gradual supply to wood industries.

Total stormwood volumes are lower than the total combined regional forestry industry processing capacity, however current wood products market situation (global crisis) implies low sales for certain processing chains, impacting wood demand negatively and forcing a slowly gradual use of this unexpected wood supply by industry.

Opportunities for timber exports may arise, especially for sensible sized woodlots easily stored near or at export facilities. One third of total stormwood volume is high quality E. globulus pulpwood logs fallen close to several local ports.

Also in Eucalyptologics...

Storm Klaus damages the largest Eucalyptus Forest in Europe at Galicia, Spain / La tormenta Klaus arrasa el bosque de eucalipto más grande de Europa en Galicia, España / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal, Galicia, España, Spain / Eucalyptologics, information resources on Eucalyptus cultivation around the world / Eucalyptologics, recursos de informacion sobre el cultivo del eucalipto en el mundo

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

Largest Eucalyptus and Pinus forests in Europe blown down?

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

Storm Xynthia Europe Forests Damage and Stormwood Map for Galicia, Basque Country, Aquitaine, Ardennes, Vosges, Meuse, Saar, Rheineland, Palatinate, Westfalia, Bavaria, Thuringia, Harz, Hesse, +4 million cubic meters stormwood / Orkan Xynthia Sturmholz Karte Deutschland, Frankereich, Spanien, +4 millionen festmeter sturmholz / Mapa de Daños Forestales Tormenta Xynthia en Galicia, Euskadi, Aquitania, Renania, Palatinado, Sarre, Vosgos, Alsacia, Lorena, Harz, Turingia, Baviera / Tempete Xynthia degats bois Allemagne, France, Espagne / Gustavo Iglesias Trabado, Roberto Carballeira Tenreiro, Javier Folgueira Lozano / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoria y Servicios de Ingenieria Forestal / Eucalyptologics: information resources on Eucalyptus cultivation worldwide

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

Force 4 Hurricane Storm Xynthia hits Eucalyptus and pine forests in Galicia, Spain, and causes 55 fatalities in Western Europe / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoria y Servicios de Ingenieria Forestal / Eucalyptologics: information resources on Eucalyptus cultivation worldwide

Storm Xynthia hits Galician forests by February 2010

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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)

Storm Klaus damages the largest Eucalyptus and Pine Forests of Galicia, Spain / La tormenta Klaus arrasa los bosques de eucalipto y pino de Galicia, España / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal, Galicia, España, Spain / Eucalyptologics, information resources on Eucalyptus cultivation around the world / Eucalyptologics, recursos de informacion sobre el cultivo del eucalipto en el mundo

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

Storm Klaus damages the largest Poplar Forests of Aquitaine and Midi Pyréneés in France / Tempete Klaus et les peupliers du Haute Garonne / La tormenta Klaus arrasa las choperas del sur de Francia / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal, Galicia, España, Spain / Eucalyptologics, information resources on Eucalyptus cultivation around the world / Eucalyptologics, recursos de informacion sobre el cultivo del eucalipto en el mundo

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)