ASHLAND — Ashland County commissioners accepted a check Thursday morning that reflects timber harvesting out at Mohican-Memorial State Forest.
Chad Sanders, the forest’s manager, presented the $129,917.07 check.
State law allows the Ohio Division of Forestry to harvest timber as a forest-management operation. The spoils then get divided among the county, township and school district, with the schools getting the largest chunk.
Loudonville-Perrysville Exempted Village School District, this year, gets just under $65,000.
District superintendent Jen Allerding was not immediately available to comment.
The remaining funds, around $64,000, is split evenly among the Ashland County Board of Commissioners and Hanover Township.
Tornado boon
The last two years of timber operations revenue have been unusually swollen. A June 2022 tornado destroyed 480 acres of state forest, leaving behind a mess of fallen hardwoods and soft pines.
In 2023, timber operations revenue topped just north of $200,000 to be divided among L-P school district, Hanover Township and the county commissioners office. That meant the division of forestry harvested roughly 15,000 tons of oak, hickory, maple, poplar and other hardwoods.
Sanders said those hardwood species typically regenerate with time.
In 2022, the division of forestry harvested $28,720 worth of logs.
The Ohio Division of Forestry’s clean-up effort concluded in December 2023, Sanders said.
But thinning will continue in order to promote healthy growth of various trees and prevent fires. In Mohican-Memorial State Forest, much of the forest is comprised of white pine, a leftover of pine plantations planted “artificially to restore farmland,” Sanders has said.
Sanders thanked the county commissioners for their “continued support” of harvesting operations.