As trees begin their spring bloom, damage from January’s ice storm will become more apparent, especially in Clay County’s tree canopy.
Tennessee Division of Forestry Communications and Outreach Unit Leader Megan Carpenter said the regional forester confirmed that many trees have significant damage. Carpenter said the amount of debris in Clay County is no surprise after the ice storm rolled through.
“It coats the branches in such a way that it weighs them down, and eventually that stress can cause cracking and breaking, or even cause the roots to come out of the ground, which is what we saw with a lot of the debris that was on the ground,” Caprenter said.
Carpenter said damage varied depending on the types of trees. Caprenter said pine stands saw the most damage.
“We saw that pine stands were very heavily impacted, especially ones that had recently been thinned, because there wasn’t really any protection around them,” Carpenter said. “So a lot, we saw tons and tons of damage in those areas.”
Carpenter said hardwood trees also saw similar types of damage. The Division of Forestry is doing a more in-depth assessment of the trees to identify which trees need to be removed or replanted in Nashville. Carpenter said they could do a similar assessment in Clay County.
“If there were municipalities within Clay County that were interested in having an assessment done within those towns and cities, then it would be fantastic if they were to reach out to our Urban and Community Forestry Team,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter said assessments are crucial not only to preserve the trees but also for safety reasons.
“If you have trees that are in a right of way in a town, or they’re along roads, or they’re near a home, or other buildings, or your driveway, or what have you, those trees should be your top priority to assess because if there is structural damage, it’s possible that those trees or branches could still fall on homes or on people and cause a safety issue and cause injuries.”
Carpenter said residents should really evaluate the damage of trees on their property. Carpenter also said natural disasters are part of the cycle, and trees are resilient and can recover from an ice storm even if they suffer damage.
