Carinthia: A storm every second day
One of the damage hotspots was in Carinthia, which had already been struggling with widespread bark beetle infestation. In the federal state, around 500,000 m³ are expected to have been damaged.
Carinthia’s forest director Christian Matitz counted as many as five storms within ten days until mid-July. In addition, there was heavy rainfall with hail in the Klagenfurt Basin on the weekend of July 22 and 23.
The summer storms – especially the one on July 17 – damaged 250,000 to 300,000 m³ in the district of Völkermarkt alone. One third of this volume is said to be pine wood. In addition, small-scale damage in the east of Spittal, in the greater Villach area, in the Klagenfurt Basin, in St. Veit and Feldkirchen amounted to a total of 200,000 m³. There were a lot of broken trees; the proportion of sawable log wood is estimated at one third to 40%.
No sooner felled than infested
In Carinthia, there is widespread bark beetle infestation. For example, it was reported that the damaged trees, which were felled in calendar week 28, had already been infested with beetles. “Those logs are like bait trees,” Matitz says.
In Upper Carinthia, the number of bark beetles caught is said to be much higher than it had been last year. At least, there is sufficient rainfall at the moment, which should restore the trees’ vitality.
Quick removal as top priority
The State’s Forestry Directorate is now pushing for the log wood to be removed and marketed quickly. At least in the district of Völkermarkt, there is reportedly interest. The Carinthian forest association has been asked to make sure that purchase contracts are concluded quickly. At the moment, a log price of €80 to €85/m³ is assumed.
Around 550,000 m³ in Tyrol
North Tyrol, too, was affected by severe weather which resulted in considerable damage. On July 11 and 12, 150,000 m³ of damaged wood accumulated throughout Tyrol, with Schwaz, part of the Zillertal valley, Imst and Landeck having been hit the worst. Then, on July 18, an even more severe storm battered the state and caused around 400,000 m³ of damaged wood according to a first estimate, of which 150,000 m³ accumulated in the Ötztal, Inntal and Pitztal valleys and in the district of Innsbruck Land up to the Brenner. “A more detailed assessment of the damage will follow this week,” Herwig Ruprecht of the state government’s Forest Group explains. The reports on damage in forests managed by the Austrian Federal Forests (ÖBf) are not part of these preliminary figures. Only East Tyrol has so far been spared.
In all of the affected areas, there were numerous broken trees. The wind changed direction several times and further reduced the value of the wood by breaking it.
50,000 m³ in South Tyrol
Günther Unterthiner, chief forest official of the province of South Tyrol, estimated that 50,000 m³ of damaged wood accumulated until last weekend, with an area of around 150 hectares having been affected. In this region, too, the main damaging event occurred on July 18.
Small-scale damage in the western part of Upper Styria
In Styria, the exact volume of damaged wood has not yet been determined. Reports range from higher, five-digit figures to 200,000 m³. Due to several small-scale storm cells, the overall volume of damaged wood is the result of damage which was scattered over the entire state and small-scale at a local level. The damage hotspots are the regions around Schladming, Enns and Murau. Herwig Schüssler, Deputy Head of the Styrian Forestry Directorate, expects 70,000 to 90,000 m³ of damaged wood. He sees the windthrow volumes as “uncritical” and expects them to be “accepted under normal market conditions”. It is widely known which sawmills are currently accepting log wood and which are not. In any way, the storm-damaged wood should not have an impact on the log price.
