- [Chris] For generations, the mountains of Western Carolina have drawn people in with their beauty.

Lush Green forests in the spring gave way to hillsides a blaze with color in the fall, and ironically, it's the same force that present the region's greatest challenge.

Hurricane Helene left the canopy that gave shelter and shade a tangled mess.

- Oak trees, birch trees, the whole tree is down, giant root ball is sticking up in the air.

- You look up, and there's debris 20 feet up in the trees.

You know, it was devastating.

- [Chris] The forest wasn't just disturbed, it was dismantled.

The sheer volume was overwhelming.

But it wasn't just the quantity that made this job daunting.

- We couldn't ship the trees out of state because of the invasive species, the bugs that are in it.

So you're not allowed to do that.

And the worst case example would be the fire pits, just burn everything.

- [Chris] So they got creative.

(chainsaw whirring) FEMA's Inter-agency Recovery Coordination worked with the Army Corps of Engineers, US Forest Service, Red Cross, and Team Rubicon to try and repurpose the down timber starting with firewood.

- As trees were identified that these would be appropriate trees for firewood for that part of the country, then we would run those trees with our heavy equipment load, a firewood processing machine, and then we would cut and split firewood in mass.

- [Chris] The Arboretum was hit especially hard.

Hiking trails were a twisted mess of limbs and uprooted trees.

All that remained of some were the signs designating what was once there.

- How can we be a leader, and how can we show as an example, that we can with a little extra organization, put this material to good use?

- [Chris] Their solution?

Don't even take the stuff off site.

(machines whirring) (intense music) Sure, they removed the larger pieces, but the crews from Ashbrook ground up everything else to be spread out when the pathways reopen.

- We use on our trails oak chips because actually they don't decompose very quickly, and so some of those oaks are being processed into chips, and in a clean way that we can then repurpose on our site.

- [Chris] And about those larger pieces, (bright music) some found a new purpose inside Gabe Aucott's wood shop.

(machine whirring) But this master craftsman will transform these weathered planks into tables, cabinets, and chairs.

- There's so much material that there's still just logs everywhere that are available.

- [Chris] Boards piled high, rough-hewn, and waiting for Gabe to give them new life.

The material itself adding another layer to the masterpiece.

- Wood is one of the few mediums that's available that's beautiful as an object as it is, like, you know, I guess there's certain types of stone and other naturally-occurring materials that fit in this category, but wood's something that you can just cut open and polish, and it's already a thing of beauty.

- [Chris] The second chance timber giving woodworkers like Paul a chance to recover, too.

Transforming their craft into a healing process as they shape new beginnings from the storm's remnants.

- Soon as we got power back here, I was down here in the shop just because it was therapy.

One of the things that is beautiful about art and craft is that it comes with a story.

(laughing) You buy something at Walmart, you bought something at Walmart, but you buy something from an artist or a crafts person, you're buying their work, you're buying part of their life, you're buying, you know, their experience.

- [Chris] Right now, that experience comes with an undercurrent of guilt, knowing their shops survived while so many of their friends' businesses were lost.

- I have all my friends who were not as lucky as I was.

To come through so unscathed physically is is difficult.

- Obviously, really bittersweet.

The woodworking community that's orphaned by this storm event is just one part of like a massive wave of people in all different trades and beyond.

- [Chris] Of course, it's the artist who finds the light in the darkest of times, seeing the beauty in the depths of this tragedy.

- It's opened up all these new vistas and things that you couldn't see before.

You now can see 'cause the trees are gone.

- [Chris] And gives them plenty of material to work with.

Although getting to it might be an issue.

- This is gonna be something that a lot of us are gonna tackle by hand, just with old-fashioned kind of techniques.

Better than CrossFit, in my book.

You know, some pump iron, some pump oak.

So let's go.

- [Chris] The work clearing the debris is slow.

Each pile a reminder of the storm's wrath.

The lumber, finding new purpose in the hands of those who know how to shape it into something beautiful.

In time, the forest will return, stronger and more vibrant, reminding everyone that even in the wake of destruction, beauty's not lost, but merely waiting to be found.

For "Carolina Impact," I'm Chris Clark.

(bright music)