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October 10, 2005 Volume 30, Issue 9 |
MSU providing Web help for Katrina-ruined timberland
Landowners, loggers and forest products companies now may quickly locate each other through a newly opened Web site devoted to hurricane forestry salvage operations.
Developed at Mississippi State University, http://www.wssg.cfr.msstate.edu enables landowners to find or request loggers, while also providing loggers the opportunity to announce their company’s capabilities and other information. Additionally, forest products companies can list their needs, including the sizes and types of wood they desire.
Parties without Internet access may obtain the same information by telephoning toll-free 1-866-706-8869.
“Immediately after Hurricane Katrina, we received telephone calls from numerous loggers who were willing to provide contract services to landowners with timber damage from the storm,” said Dr. Laura Grace, a professor in the Forest and Wildlife Research Center.
“In response, we designed this Web site to serve as an avenue for communication,” she added. “Now, landowners and companies can find loggers, loggers can find companies and landowners, and everyone benefits.”
Grace said the online resource initially focused on the thousands of damaged acres left in the wake of Katrina’s swath through Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. Following a comparably ruinous visit two weeks ago by Hurricane Rita, Texas was added to the directory.