MARIENVILLE — The Allegheny National Forest will soon be salvaging some of the trees within the Kane Experimental Forest that were damaged during a May 1 windstorm.

Marienville District Ranger Rob Fallon recently signed a decision memo allowing salvage operations to take place on approximately 140 acres within the 3,400-acre Kane Experimental Forest in Elk County.

“Salvage timber harvests may occur in an experimental forest in response to forest health issues or catastrophic events, such as wind or ice,” Fallon said. “We want to recover some of the economic value of the damaged trees and further understand and refine the tools available to us for accelerating reforestation in areas impacted by natural events where we are actively managing the vegetation.”

Fallon said that once the trees are removed, Forest Service scientists will review the status of the study areas and develop reforestation strategies. They will also address and interpret the effects of windthrow on the long-term Allegheny Hardwood Management Strategy Study.

Approximately 1,500 acres of windthrown trees occurred across the Marienville Ranger District as a result of the May 1 storm. This is the first of a series of proposals, analyses and decisions regarding potential treatment of these windthrow areas