Photograph by Steven Higgs
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources continues its frenetic logging pace and is putting nearly 3,000 trees up for timber sales on Nov. 15. The sales will be in the Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood State Forests.
News Release
Indiana Forest Alliance
The Indiana Division of Forestry has announced three timber sales totaling nearly 3,000 trees on just 300 acres of the Yellowwood and Morgan-Monroe State Forests. The sales will take place at the Yellowwood State Forest office on Nov. 19.
The sales are located on Dubois Ridge Road just south of Lanam Ridge Road and a portion of Morgan-Monroe near Bruce Road. One of the sales is adjoining another sale. The increase in sales on the state land represents a fourfold increase since the beginning of the Daniels administration, from 3 million board feet to 12 million board feet sold from the public forests each year. The marked trees are primarily yellow poplar and various oak species.
Each sale requires bulldozers and other heavy equipment to open up logging roads and yards and lay road-grade gravel for the machinery needed for a logging operation. These roads bring in or clear the way for invasive species to find their way into the forest, as more light is introduced through the removal of trees. Forest species that have been growing together are weakened, and soils are denuded through the logging operation.
The three sales have sparked the concern of neighboring landowners. Several have contacted the Indiana Forest Alliance out of concern. "I've had families contact me since the sales were announced last week," commented Rhonda Baird, director of Indiana Forest Alliance. "People are concerned. They use these forests, and they don't want their lives or their properties devalued because they live near the forest."
The Brown County sales are near the site of Prometheus -- a former tree-sit site that led to the cancellation of a timber sale.
"Members of the public are encouraged to come to the sale and register their opposition to the sale of public assets for private profit."
These sales come on the heels of a legislative study hearing that considered whether to protect 3,000 acres of the nearby Backcountry Area. That legislation was allowed to die without any discussion by the members of the study committee, despite the fact that over four hours of testimony were offered. Even the Division of Forestry presented testimony that Indiana's forests are dying off at about 3 percent per year.
Forests typically can handle 1 percent die off each year, according to the testimony given. No clear explanation of the die-off was given.
Every poll taken on the issue has shown that the majority of Hoosiers are opposed to commercial timber sales on public land.
Members of the public are encouraged to come to the sale and register their opposition to the sale of public assets for private profit. The sale begins promptly at 9 a.m. at Yellowwood State Forest Office.
To register a complaint about the sales, contact John Davis, Assistant Director of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources at jdavis@dnr.in.gov.
For more information about the sales or Indiana Forest Alliance or to make a donation to Indiana Forest Alliance, contact Rhonda Baird at 812-332-4878.
Rhonda Baird is the Director of the Indiana Forest Alliance. She can be reached at Ifa.director@gmail.com.
Comments
Polling 101: No source, no credit!!
Rhonda Baird, IFA Director repeats the Bloomington anti-logging chant: "Every poll taken on the issue has shown that the majority of Hoosiers are opposed to commercial timber sales on public land."
...and like her predecessors she neglects to tell us who - by name - conducted these polls AND where they can be found for review by the public. Say whatever you want about the Division of Forestry, but at least they backup what they say with information on their website. You'd think information as important as these "polls" would be posted on IFA's website but there's nothing there. The Bloomington anti-logging crowd has been playing wolf like this so long one has to wonder if this is just another depserate attempt to rally the "like-minded" troops. For all we know this mythical poll has as much meaning as the one I just took on the internet that asked who I thought was hotter - Michelle Obama or Sarah Palin!
This is news?
Was it a slow news day at the Bloomington Alternative? Seems to me its perfectly within the state forest's rights to hold timber harvests - yes, even COMMERCIAL harvests. Hasn't this been going on for some time now...and aren't these same forests beautiful and doing just fine? I know several bird watchers - members of Audubon - who tell me the state forests are their favorite place to watch birds - because there's lots of diversity and variety. Aren't there REAL environmental issues out there that we need to be discussing? We've heard about IFA and Heartwood railing against the state forests for years and years but DNR didn't seem to have much trouble getting certified by two independent 'green certification' groups. Maybe, just possibly, they're doing a good job?
You don't like seeing tree stumps while you hike? Go to the Deam Wilderness, a state park, or a nature preserve.
Invasive species in the state forest
"These roads bring in or clear the way for invasive species to find their way into the forest, as more light is introduced through the removal of trees. "
I was not aware that invasive species were ambulatory!
Most of the invasives are spread by birds or have airborne seeds. A road is not required for the seed to enter a forest.
While it is true that increasing the light that hits the forest floor does enhance the germination of some invasives an oak tree will not grow in the shade. Follow up work is required and done to eliminate invasive species to the extent possible. It is a obfuscation to imply the invasives would not take hold if the road was not opened.
"Forest species that have been growing together are weakened, and soils are denuded through the logging operation."
Can someone please provide some proof of this?
Removing a competing tree from a stand in fact will strengthen those trees that the crowns of have been released by the removal of competing trees. Not at all unlike weeding a garden. New roads or skid trails rarely are created as the forest is full of old roadbeds. The roadbed leading to the staging area will likely be reworked and graveled to minimize damage. After the harvest the road becomes a firelane in most instances and in many instances was a fire lane or trail to start with.
The slash that is left after a harvest is a rich source of woody debris that actually builds the forest soils. Taken in total the logging operation actually improves conditions faster than the centuries it would take if nothing at all is done.
One last point. The current market for FSC certified wood is very robust and not at all in a slump.