Storm closes some Washington County trails

Washington County Conservation Director Zach Rozmus said the department was feeling the effects of windstorms that swept the state on Dec. 16.

“The area west of West Chester was definitely the worst area,” Rozmus said. “There’s probably a 3-mile stretch in that section that every 150, 200 yards we were cutting up mostly standing dead trees but also some cottonwoods, stuff like that, that had fallen across the trail. It took roughly a full day of chain saw work to get it back open.”

While most trails are cleaned up by now, Rozmus said more secluded conservation areas like Brinton and Hayes Timber may have to wait until next year.

“Those do require taking a side-by-side with two or three staff members for essentially a full day in order to get those cleared,” he said. “We do allow hunting at some of those areas, (and) deer season is still open until Jan. 10, so we’ll probably wait until after that time period so we can get in there. That way we’re not infringing on anybody that could be doing any hunting during any of those times.”

Rozmus said the storm damage was unavoidable.

“One of the things we kind of learned with the derecho was there’s not really a way we can anticipate damage,” he said. “We can repair as much as we want and think that we’ve got it figured out, what Mother Nature can throw at us, but she can always throw a curveball when it comes down to it.”

As for recovery, the department is looking into replanting efforts to replace the lost trees.

“We’re always trying to evaluate how we can maintain the canopy specifically with native species,” Rozmus said. “Cottonwoods are great, they’re a native species, but they can also be a problem when there’s too many of them. We’ll evaluate that in the future, I don’t think at this point in time it’s going to require a mass reseeding or anything like that but it’s definitely something we’re going to have to evaluate.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com