The Alabama Forest Recovery Task Force, created by Gov. Robert Bentley to help forest landowners deal with the aftermath of the tornadoes of April 15 and 27, will meet on Monday, July 25, 2011, in Pell City.

The meeting will be held from 6:30—9 pm at the Pell City Civic Center, 2801 Stemley Bridge Rd., Pell City.

“The idea behind these meetings is to gather together representatives of industry and the state and federal agencies that deal with forestry and take the most up-to-date information we have to landowners who saw their timberland decimated by those terrible storms in April,” said AFRTF Chairman Tommy Thompson.

“We know a lot of landowners are hurting after seeing years of hard work shattered across the landscape as their timber was ravaged by these storms. But it is incumbent on all of us to pick up the pieces and to return those lands to a productive status for economic, recreational and safety reasons,” Thompson added.

The AFRTF was created by an Executive Order issued by Bentley shortly after the April 27 tornadoes struck, to deal with devastation from those storms and from the earlier storms of April 15.  

The Pell City meeting will include basic information about safety as forest landowners tackle the clean-up and reforestation of their lands. The Program will include experts who will discuss how to properly assess the damage and financial impact of the storms and how to acquire the services of a registered forester and a professional logging contractor, and where to find each.

Experts will also be on hand to discuss the consequences of having too much downed timber on a tract of land because of the possibility of insect infestations and wildfires that burn much hotter if the timber remains on the ground for a protracted period of time.

There will also be an expert on hand to talk about the tax implications of the storm damage and the casualty loss deductions for timber.

“We hope all of the forest landowners in the Pell City, St. Clair County area will attend this meeting so that we can help them work to get their lands into better shape,” Thompson said.

There is no RSVP requirement for attending this meeting. All forest landowners and members of the local media are welcome.