When the Cedar Canyon Wildfire roared through the area nearly two years ago, landowner Michael Odell quickly realized that his land was in its path. “I was on site while the fire was happening,” he said. “I drove out there and immediately started doing what I could.
I tried to fight it on my own, but the fire was just too big so I had to get out of the way.” Thankfully, fire crews arrived soon after, and Odell spent the next week sharing his knowledge of the trails and terrain in the area with them as they got the blaze under control. But the work wasn’t done once the ashes cooled.
Around 16,000 acres of land were impacted by the Cedar Canyon fire, including around 250 acres of Odell’s own land. That land included a large amount of trees that were damaged by the fire, which led to an offer from the Nebraska Forestry Service. NFS asked Odell to participate in a cost share program to log the damaged trees, and together they did so on about 40 acres in the spring of 2024.
“I’ve got several hundred delimbed logs now that I’m trying to decide what to do with,” Odell said. “I’m not a forestry guy myself. I’m just a landowner with a bunch of trees, so I’m learning through this process and trying to figure out what to do with this wood, now that it’s down.
” At least one other local landowner took notice of the position Odell and others with damaged trees were in: retired environmental science teacher and nature enthusiast Mike Sarchet. Between the Ceda.
