Lost trees take years to replace

People who don't own acreage sometimes don't understand the value of trees as a crop. If a farmer's livelihood is dependent on soybeans or cotton, a natural disaster might be covered under crop insurance or some sort of USDA reimbursement program. Trees, for the most part, are not a seasonal crop and can take a couple of generations to become suitable for harvest. They aren't covered by any sort of insurance. A disaster that wipes out a grove of trees can have an enormous impact on a tree farmer and can be financially ruinous, both from lost equity (and property value) and cleanup expenses. Trees aren't just for aesthetics; it's not a matter of the grower going to the nursery and "planting a tree to make it all pretty again." Most of these downed trees are no longer harvestable as prime timber, and the years and years of investment in a once in a lifetime crop harvest blew away just as if a pile of money did, except these farmers now have the additional uncovered expense of cleanup. For those of you that lost stands of trees, you have my sympathy. A tree harvest of old red oaks put me through college and I am extremely grateful.