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ALERT! July 1, 2006: Protect Our Woods joins with Heartwood, Sassafras Audubon Society and several individuals to challenge the US Forest Service's 2006 Land and Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Hoosier National Forest.You can download and read our entire appeal file (PDF: 783K).You can also download our exhibit support file for the appeal (PDF: 26K). FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJuly 7, 2006For additional information: Karyn Moskowitz, Protect our Woods, Phone: (812) 323-8532 Jess Gwinn, Sassafras Audubon Society Andy Mahler, Heartwood, Phone: (812) 723-2430 Mark Donham, Heartwood Technical Consultant Protect Our Woods, Heartwood, and Sassafras Audubon Society, announce that they, together with several individuals, filed a Notice of Appeal with the Chief of the Forest Service for the Hoosier National Forest, on June 27th, 2006. The purpose of this appeal is for the Forest Service to reverse its decision of approval for the 2006 Hoosier National Forest Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and to fix the deficiencies and problems with that Plan and EIS. The Plan and EIS were approved by the Regional Forester in January 2006, without having addressed a multitude of severe deficiencies and legal problems that had been pointed out by Heartwood, Protect Our Woods, Sassafras Audubon and hundreds of individuals during the public comment period in the summer of 2005. The 2006 Forest Plan continues to allow logging on the Hoosier National Forest (HNF) and even increases the amount of logging compared to the previous 1985 Forest Plan. Heartwood, Protect Our Woods, and Sassafras Audubon oppose industrial logging on the Hoosier National Forest, along with about 70% of the people of Indiana, and a similar percentage opposing logging on national forests nationwide. The Hoosier National Forest in Indiana is one of the smallest national forests in the nation. Yet, in ecological and recreational value, it is one of the most valuable. This is because it is situated in a region of the country that has been highly cleared and developed for agriculture, highways, towns, and industry. The region of the Hoosier was historically fully forested with primarily old growth mixed hardwood forest, and that forest has been almost entirely removed. The remnant that is left is a highly fragmented mosaic of different aged habitats with most of the old growth gone, and publicly and privately owned lands being intertwined. . Instead of focusing on restoring large, continuous blocks of forest that would be allowed to develop once again into an old growth mixed hardwood forest, the 2006 Forest Plan claims the need for more early successional habitat and for the "restoration" of Oak-Hickory, both of which are supposedly in alarming decline. Meeting both of these needs, according to the Forest Service, will require heavy "management" or "treatments", which include clear-cutting and other logging operations, and, with regard to Oak-Hickory "restoration", the prescribed burning of large numbers of acres. Heartwood, Protect Our Woods, and Sassafras Audubon question both the need for more early successional habitat / Oak-Hickory "restoration" as well as the effectiveness of logging and burning in bringing about the desired results, especially with regard to re-establishing Oak-Hickory. According to Heartwood spokesperson Linda Cooper of Jeffersonville, "The needs that the 2006 Forest Plan is supposed to meet - more early successional habitat and "restoration" of Oak-Hickory - were developed in a series of secret meetings the Forest Service held with handpicked scientists, in violation of federal law, and with the public kept completely in the dark. Yet, a wider perusal of the available science indicates that there are impacts from what is being proposed - impacts that the agency isn't properly analyzing or considering, and that there is serious doubt cast on the agency assertions that their proposed plan will actually produce the results that they predict." The logging activities proposed by the 2006 Forest Plan are not conducive to restoring large continuous blocks of forest. To the contrary, they are detrimental to that goal, and therefore also to the survival of threatened and endangered species dependent on that habitat such as the Indiana bat. According to Jess Gwinn, Conservation Chair of the Sassafras Audubon Society, "One of the biggest problems our organization has with the Hoosier Forest Plan is the continued maintenance of over 1000 acres of forest openings on the Hoosier National Forest. These small openings are artificially maintained through a program of regular mowing. Openings occur regularly throughout the forest from natural disturbances. These natural openings re-vegetate naturally and revert to forest over time. The openings maintained artificially by the Forest Service however merely serve as access points for invasive plants. While these openings are attractive to a wide range of species, they are also attractive to a wide range of predators and nest parasites such as brown-headed cowbirds. Many of the species that are attracted to these artificial forest openings suffer from their association with these predators and parasites." The proposed logging also interferes with and diminishes the recreational value of the Hoosier National Forest. Road building, the noise and dust accompanying logging operations, and the blighted landscapes that result from logging and burning, are not what visitors looking for quietude and natural beauty expect as a recreation experience. Effects from logging/burning on drinking water and air quality, and the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide are not given any or only superficial consideration in the 2006 Plan. Only lip-service was given to the rising demand and limited supply - across the nation and in Indiana - of wild forest areas that provide an experience of solitude and connectedness with nature. It is also noteworthy that the proposed logging and burning operations are likely to come at a considerable cost to the taxpayer - as logging and burning practices on public lands generally do. According to Protect Our Woods Board member Karyn Moskowitz: "It is one of the ironies and serious deficiencies of the 2006 Hoosier Forest Plan, that while it admits that the costs of letting the Hoosier National Forest develop naturally would be much lower than managing it as an industrial forestry operation (sugar-coated as the need to "manage" for early successional habitat), the cost information provided in the Plan for assessing financial efficiency does not reveal this fact." Heartwood, Protect Our Woods, and the Sassafras Audubon Society, and the thousands of members that they represent are hopeful that the Regional Forester will correct the severe deficiencies and legal problems in the Hoosier Forest Plan. According to Heartwood's Linda Cooper, "It is time for the Forest Service, as they did back in the 1990's with the elimination of Off Road Vehicles (ORV's) from the Hoosier National Forest, to listen to the public and get back to the job of restoring this small piece of Indiana paradise called the Hoosier National Forest." Protect Our Woods
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