A Conservationist’s Alternative Plan for Management of the Hoosier National Forest

Section 1: Introduction

1.1 Statement of Values

• Habitat for a wide variety of wildlife, including endangered species.

• The largest block of forested land between the Appalachians and the Ozark Mountains, a link in the larger chain of the National Forest System. Thus they offer refuge to numerous species of wildlife that require large tracts of wild lands, such as the many migrant song-bird species, the endangered Indiana bat, the bobcat, the timber rattlesnake and spotted turtle. These species represent a significant degree of the biodiversity capability of the entire Midwest. Indiana public lands provide the best hope for the survival of these species in the Midwest.

• Watershed protection, by minimizing erosion and filtering sediments and pollutants from runoff, and providing better source waters for high-quality drinking water supplies. · The opportunity for the re-establishment of large areas of old-growth forest, representing the mature native forest that once covered most of the state.

• Perhaps the public's only opportunities for quiet escape from urban life, to observe wildlife, to experience in small measure the experience of generations past.

• Educational opportunities for formal and avocational students of nature.

• Areas for healthy outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, horse and bicycle riding.

• Intangible values that nourish the human spirit. They are experienced, not measured and marketed. Spiritual renewal for man leaves the forest undiminished, ourselves replenished.