Protect Our
Woods
Working to preserve our rural heritage and quality of life in
southern Indiana since 1985
Working to preserve our rural heritage and quality of life in
southern Indiana since 1985
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Protect Our
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Working to preserve our rural heritage and quality of life in southern Indiana since 1985 |
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A Conservationist’s Alternative Plan for Management of the Hoosier National ForestSection 3. Need for Change: Specific Management Issues3.1 Commercial timberingCommercial logging should be discontinued.We believe that commercial logging should be ended on the Hoosier National Forest. The amount of funding the Hoosier National Forest receives is determined in large part by how much commercial logging occurs. Ending the commercial timber program would remove much of the Forest Service's incentive to falsely attempt to justify logging as necessary for ecological reasons. Many species depend on large blocks of contiguous mature forest, and the Hoosier is one of the few places in the Central Hardwood region in which there is such habitat or even the potential for it, given the rapid pace of development on private lands. Logging on the Hoosier National is a direct threat to our hopes of preserving unique ecosystems and the plants and animals that depend upon them, and perhaps of one day having more than a few hundred acres of old growth forest in the state again. We disagree that it is necessary to log pine stands on the Hoosier National Forest to promote hardwood regeneration. Salvage logging is unnecessary, as dead and dying timber returns nutrients to the soil and provides habitat for many rare species. Logging also causes erosion and water quality problems, soil compaction, karst siltation, diminution of many users' recreational experience, and harms many rare plants and animals directly, in addition to simply destroying their habitat. Economically, preservation of our native plant and animal diversity is the soundest role for the forest. Commercial logging on these lands, besides harming forest habitat and water quality, benefits only those few involved in extraction, not Hoosier taxpayers. The timber industry does not rely on nor need timber from public lands. Even at its historic maximum logging level, the Hoosier National Forest produced less than 4% of the average annual timber volume harvested in Indiana. For more than a decade, this forest has produced virtually no commercial timber, so no current jobs are at stake in permanently ending commercial timbering. In the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the 1991 HNF Plan Amendment, the Forest Service acknowledged that, "...in fact there really is no demand for our timber." Better wood utilization, use of alternative fibers for paper and cardboard, and increased recycling can easily meet demand for wood products. Using disposable shipping pallets a second time would save more than twice the volume of hardwood lumber cut from all public forests in the hardwood region. Timber production on the HNF, and the national forest system as a whole, loses money. During the mid-1980's when logging was at its height on the HNF, this timber program was costing federal taxpayers nearly $700,000 a year. In 1996, national forest system timber sales cost taxpayers $791 million. Trees sold from public forests also compete with privately-owned timber, making it less desirable for private woodland owners to maintain a long-term investment in timber production. 3.2 Commercial UseExpansion of commercial uses beyond existing commercial rights and leases should be discontinued.The Hoosier National Forest is a common public property. In as much as commercial and extractive uses tend to deplete or diminish forest resources, they are incompatible with the mission of protecting the common resource for future use. Extant commercial uses, including mineral rights and leases shall continue. However, future expansion of these uses, proposed commercial ventures, provision of trails for commercial enterprises on adjacent properties, and the privatization of forest services should be declined. Small-scale extraction of roots, berries, leaves, nuts, mushrooms and other commodities from the HNF shall be for personal use only. Extraction for commercial use or profit shall not be permitted. The Forest Service shall take inventory of existing plants used for medicinal and edible purposes and monitor populations. Any species showing signs of stress shall have a moratorium placed on its removal until such a time as their populations show signs of recovery. 3.3 Forest OpeningsThe creation and maintenance of forest openings should be discontinued; the management emphasis should be on the creation, instead, of large blocks of unbroken forest canopy.The current forest openings management program in place on the Hoosier National Forest should be discontinued. Forest openings of the size created and managed on the Hoosier are not a naturally occurring phenomenon. Smaller openings of one-eighth an acre or less are commonly created naturally in the forest by the falling over of large mature trees. Larger openings created by major storm events occur less frequently. Openings of several acres in size are therefore uncommon in the forest, and then revegetate quickly. They do not remain open indefinitely. Maintenance of these forest openings necessarily requires the use of heavy equipment and sometimes herbicides. Both of these mechanisms have negative impacts upon the forest. Heavy equipment compacts the forest soil as well as increases sedimentation into adjacent waterways. Herbicides impact non-target as well as target species in addition to polluting adjacent waterways. The forest openings also facilitate the spread of exotic plant species into the interior of the forest. Large blocks of brushy edge type habitat were not historically prevalent in this region. However, due to settlement in this region, this same type of edge habitat is now one of the most common components of the landscape. As such, recreation opportunities associated with this habitat type are commonly available both on and off of the Hoosier. Therefore, the emphasis for management of the Hoosier should be the creation of large blocks of unbroken forest canopy. These large unbroken blocks of forest, once predominant, are rare in this region and are also critical habitat for a large number of species dependent upon the same. The only likely source of this habitat type is on public land, namely the Hoosier National Forest. The discontinuation of the forest openings project does not preclude the Hoosier from maintaining existing historic glades and barrens. However, the maintenance of these glades and barrens should be based upon historical data as to their location and extent. 3.4 Prescribed FireThe use of prescribed fire should be rare and restricted to the barrens only.The use of prescribed fire should be rare and restricted to the barrens only. A total of 1247 acres of barrens has been identified in the Hoosier National Forest. These barrens consist of native grasses and fire tolerant plants that are rare locally. Prescribed fire could be useful to restore or enhance habitat for these species. The native grasses and plants that are rare have been replaced on private lands by non-native or hybrid grasses for agricultural purposes. The Forest Service should encourage the use of these native plants, wildflowers, and grasses on private lands and use them on federally-owned non-forested areas of the HNF such as road sides and parking lot perimeters instead of fescue and other non-native plants. The use of fire to attempt to restore or encourage a greater oak-hickory component in the forest does not work and should not be used. Studies show that natural fire has a return interval of 200 to 400 years in eastern hardwood forests. High humidity and low fuel levels account for low incidence of natural fire. Even fires set by Native Americans in presettlement times for villages and agricultural sites were small in scope and not dominant in the landscape. Indiana's landscape today has no shortage of settlements or agricultural sites and fire should not be used to imitate these conditions. |