Officials at Shiloh continue storm cleanup

SHILOH, Tenn.– Many West Tennesseans are still picking up the pieces after the storms in October, including one national park.

“There’s uprooted trees, broken off trees, limbs and devastation everywhere you look,” park facility manager Randy Martin said.

Park officials at Shiloh National Military Park have been working endlessly to remove widespread tree damage that resulted from the October storms.

“This is pretty typical of every trail we have in the park. It’s just broken over trees. Most of them missed all of the markers, but they got close,” Martin said. “This is what we’re having to inspect and cut out. We have so many miles of trails, it just takes a long time to do.”

Martin said they’ve been cleaning up since the storm hit.

“We estimated around 4,500 trees that were down and uprooted. We cut over 300 out of the road just to get all of the roads accessible,” Martin said.

There are still several hundred more to remove.

“We’re just working as quick as we can. We plan on doing some more contracting and getting more trees cleaned up. We’re trying to get it done as quickly and safely as we can,” Martin said.

The park recently got approval for some emergency funding to continue the efforts.

All of the trails in the park have been closed since the storm hit, all because of the trees.

“We just ask everybody to be patient with us, and we’ll do the best we can,” Martin said.

Park officials say the goal is to have the trails reopened by the time of the park’s anniversary in the spring.