Appomattox County receives $17K from timber sales

Appomattox County received a check for the amount of $17,028.38 from the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) for timber sales in fiscal year 2024 (FY24). The check was presented at the Appomattox County Board of Supervisors meeting held Aug. 19.

During the past year, 148 acres of timber was harvested in the Appomattox-Buckingham State Forest. The payment is made to the county in lieu of taxes.

Mr. Shannon Lewis, forestry manager with VDOF, who grew up in Appomattox, told the board that harvesting numbers recently have been down in state forests, primarily due to protection of an endangered species and its newborns.

“The main reason is the northern long-eared bat, which I’m sure everybody’s familiar with,” Lewis said. “But it took a little while and a little work from…the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to try to figure out a way around that. And basically on the state forests, we’re not harvesting timber during the months of June and July, which is the time of year when there would potentially be bats pupping in this area. So we’ve gotta work around for that. I would expect things to pick up a little bit in the future but I will make no promises.”

This particular bat species has previously been detected in the Appomattox-Buckingham State Forest.

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