ROLLA, Mo. — Multiple logging contracts will be open for bid on the Mark Twain National Forest in the coming months. These timber sales will assist in restoring the forest and making fire-fighting and recreation safer after several storms cut through Missouri this spring, bringing tornadoes with them.
“These timber sales will help in making these hard-hit areas of the forest safer for visitors and employees,” stated Forest Supervisor Vince Keeler.
Currently five sales, ranging from about 30 to 90 acres in size, are planned for the Potosi unit of the Forest. A pre-bid meeting for upcoming sales will be held at the Forest office in Potosi (10019 W. State Hwy. 8) on May 22 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Anyone interested in bidding on these sales is invited to attend. Potential bidders may obtain information and maps about the sales ahead of time from the Potosi Ranger District Office by stopping by or calling 573-438-5427.
After the pre-bid meeting on May 22, bids will be accepted for the first two sales on May 28. Information about the other three sales will become available May 22 with bids being accepted on June 5.
This advance notice is to offer interested parties time to begin examination of the sales and preliminary sale data prior to the final advertisement.
These sales will be advertised for two weeks to expedite timber removal. The final advertisement will contain final minimum stumpage rates, bidding provisions, and other sale conditions. Additional timber sale information can be found on the Mark Twain National Forest website.
The tornado damage to parts of Mark Twain National Forest was significant in places, knocking down thousands of trees. This presents a high risk of falling hazard trees and blocked escape routes to firefighters that have to work in the areas in the future.
Bringing the woods back to a condition where firefighters can work safely in these areas when doing future wildland fire response requires clearing out these trees that have been ripped up and piled in precarious stacks by the tornadic winds.
The downed trees also pose a risk of increasing extreme fires, because all of the wood from the downed trees represents more fuel for a potential fire.
To effectively remove the hazardous trees, the USDA Forest Service is proposing several timber sales for the area. Along with improving safety for firefighters and reducing extreme wildfire risk, utilizing timber sales to remove the trees boosts local economies while utilizing the market value of the knocked down trees to help fund the operations. The first of these sales this spring are the Flatwoods Tornado disturbance recover sales. It will focus on areas of the Potosi-Fredericktown Ranger District that were damaged by storms on April 2, 2025.
Anyone interested in bidding on future timber projects can email Hunter Swift at hunter.swift@usda.gov to ensure they receive notification of bid meetings and submittal processes for future projects.