Produced by Benjamin von Cramon, this ETV Classic reveals the aftermath of the arrival of Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and the impact it had upon the timber industry. With the force of several atomic bombs, Hugo's path of destruction coursed from the coast, across the state, devastating everything in its path. We hear from District Ranger of Francis Marion National Forest, Glenn Stapleton and Ranger Perry Shatley, among others, and learn about the destruction of the forest, the impact that it had on the industries that relied on the timber, and the fire risk the fallen timber posed to the surrounding communities .
During the documentary, we learned about the structure of trees and how discoloration of the wood by fungus would render it useless for the flooring industry. Termites, beetles and fungi further impact the window of time whereby the fallen trees could be salvaged for the pulp industry.
Under normal circumstances, the forest floor has abundant leaf litter and debris that could fuel fires, however, Hurricane Hugo added tonnage of unusable timber to the preexisting levels, increasing the risk of forest fires.
Side Notes
- The Land Remembers: How Hurricane Hugo shaped today's Francis Marion National Forest - Post and Courier - 2024. As it thundered past Mount Pleasant, Awendaw and McClellanville late Sept. 21 into Sept. 22, 1989, Hugo flattened more than a third of the Francis Marion National Forest. Wind speeds of up to 130 mph snapped trees like toothpicks and laid waste to tens of thousands of acres.
- Remembering Hugo: Forester talks about affected timber industry. (2014)
- Fire Management Ramifications of Hurricane Hugo (PDF).
- Wildlife effects of Hurricane Hugo. Hugo downed about 70% of all the sawtimber on the 100,000 ha Francis Marion National Forest and, statewide, damaged over 6 billion board feet of pine and hardwood sawtimber. The storm eroded coastal islands, beaches, and tidal impoundments that were important wildlife sanctuaries for Loggerhead Turtles (Caretta caretta), Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) other shorebirds and waterfowl. Forest wildlife was affected by large-scale alterations: 44% of the 54 Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nests in South Carolina were destroyed, and about 63% of the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis) population (c. 1500) on the Francis Marion National Forest was killed or missing; squirrels suffered from loss of fall litters and damage to large mast and den trees; some songbird species and turkey will be affected by elimination of food and cover trees.
