Bemidji School Board meets Monday, school forests generate income after July storm

BEMIDJI – The school district here has reaped nearly $10,000 in timber sales generated after the July 2 windstorm left several school forests badly damaged.
The Bemidji school board is expected to hear an update on the school forests’ harvests during its meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Bemidji High School media center.
The July 2 storm, which brought with it winds in excess of 80 mph, “heavily damaged” the Guthrie, high school and Horace May school forests, wrote Chris Leinen, the district’s business services director, in a memo included in the agenda packet for the meeting.
Pete Aube and Brian Bignall, both with Potlatch Corp., provided “significant help” to the district in putting together a strategy for harvest and forest cleanup, Leinen wrote.
In all, 579.14 cords were harvested from the forests, including Spruce, Pine, Aspen, Birch and Red Norway. The price varied from $25 per cord down to $5, depending whether it was bolts or pulp.
“The combination of a down market combined with a damaged product kept the proceeds from being as high as they might have been,” Leinen wrote. “However, when factoring in the need for safety and timely cleanup, we feel that the services rendered have been of great value to the Bemidji School District and its students.”
Proceeds from the Horace May harvest were $2,683.54 while proceeds from the Guthrie and high school harvests were $6,744.70, according to agenda documents.