Loudonville-Perrysville schools get $100K from forestry harvest

ASHLAND — Ashland County’s forest manager came to the commissioners’ meeting Thursday with checks after a fruitful timber harvest season. 

Mohican-Memorial State Forest Manager Chad Sanders said his office was able to harvest 15,000 tons of logs over the last year, resulting in $202,007.93 to be disbursed among Ashland County, Hanover Township and Loudonville-Perrysville Exempted Village School District. 

State law allows the Ohio Division of Forestry to harvest timber as a forest-management operation. The largest chunk, by state law, goes to the school district, which received a check for $101,003. 

The two other entities received $50,501 apiece.

Superintendent Jen Allerding accepted the $101,003 check along with the school district’s treasurer, Christine Angerer. 

“I assure you, it will be put to good use,” Allerding said, addressing commissioners. She said the money would most likely go toward the construction of the district’s planned greenhouse.

“I really think it’s a cool, kind of unique opportunity to take this money from the forest and use it for agricultural education,” she said.

The district is currently reviewing bids for the project, according to a Nov. 1 press release. The lowest bidder estimated the project would cost $473,899.46. 

Timber numbers

The timber money serves as a boon to communities, especially this year. In 2022, Sanders presented a check for $28,720. This year’s amount swelled because of the work the office did following a June 2022 tornado. 

The tornado, Sanders said, destroyed 480 acres of state forest trees. 

“A couple thousand acres were impacted — we salvaged 350 acres of timber,” he said.

There were more than 15,000 tons of logs that his office worked to remove from the forest over the last year.

“That’s 628 semi loads,” he said. 

Sanders said the harvest operation generated $373,000 in gross receipts. The Division of Forestry gets reimbursed for cost, which amounted to $60,000, he said. 

That brings the net to $310,000, Sanders said.

“We get 35%, which is $108,000. The county gets 65%, which is $202,000. Half of that goes to the schools, and then the county gets 25% and the township gets 25%,” he explained.  

Sanders said forestry is still cleaning up from the tornado that ripped through Mohican-Memorial State Forest in mid-June 2022. 

He estimated the clean-up effort to wrap by the end of this year.

“So there’s still money to come,” Sanders said, estimating another six-figure amount to be presented in October or November 2024.

The wood

The wood harvested was in the form of logs, hardwood saw logs, pine saw logs, pulp wood, firewood logs and log cabin logs, Sanders said.

Around 300 acres of the species harvested varied from oak, hickory, maple, poplar and approximately 20 other hardwoods.

Much of the wood was white pine, he said, a leftover of pine plantations planted out there “artificially to restore farmland.”

The division of forestry works throughout the years to thin the woods in order to restore the land. When left, the pine trees pose a fire risk and as a barrier to new growth, Sanders said.

Sanders expects the various species of hardwoods to grow back over time.