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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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State of the Forest Update August 1, 2006Dear Protect Our Woods Supporters: Over the past year, Protect Our Woods helped lay the groundwork for a successful appeal of a proposed timber sale on German Ridge (Hoosier National Forest) in Perry County, Indiana, that would have allowed thousands of acres of forest to be logged and burned. While this is encouraging, we have not really had time to celebrate this victory. Protect Our Woods has been responding to several threats to the Indiana State Forests that are on a much larger scale than a single timber sale. Indiana State Forest• As you are probably aware, in 2005 the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) came out with a “Strategic Plan” for the Indiana State Forest that proposed a three- to fivefold increase in logging compared to previous years, and an increase in the size of clearcuts to 40 acres.• This plan was put together without the public input required by the Indiana Environmental Policy Act (IEPA). Protect Our Woods, in cooperation with four other Indiana forest protection groups, filed a notice of intent to sue the State under IEPA, coupled with a media and public outreach campaign. • Our efforts came to a halt when the Indiana State legislature passed a “rider” exempting the DNR from having to abide by IEPA. • As a result, the logging on the State Forests is now in full swing, and we are currently exploring our options to sue under the Federal Endangered Species Act and other statutes. Protect Our Woods is also preparing for a multi-media public outreach campaign to alert Indiana citizens to the environmental destruction resulting from the logging. Hoosier National Forest• In the spring of 2005, the Forest Service issued a Draft Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Hoosier National Forest. The Forest Service’s preferred alternative pushed for more logging than the previous 1985 Plan, proposing, among other things, to log more than 6800 acres over the next ten years, most of it clearcuts, and to burn about 20,000 acres. The Plan also opens almost the entire Forest to “salvage” logging.• Protect Our Woods pointed out a multitude of severe deficiencies and legal problems with the Draft during the public comment period in the summer of 2005. • Yet, the Final Plan and EIS were approved by the Regional Forester in January 2006. No changes were made to the Draft, except the Final Plan called for larger clearcuts and an initiation of mining in the Forest. • Therefore, Protect Our Woods, Heartwood, and Sassafras Audubon Society submitted an administrative appeal to the Regional Forester at the end of June 2006. You can see the Appeal and the Press Release here. • We are hopeful that, based on our appeal, the Regional Forester will withdraw the Hoosier National Forest Plan and implement the no-logging Alternative in line with what 70 percent of Hoosiers want. • However, we are also prepared to take legal action and to mount a major public relations campaign if our appeal is not successful. We Need Your SupportFor all of these efforts – legal challenges to the State and National Forest plans, and major public outreach campaigns – we need your active support. Not only is wildlife at risk, but also the air we breathe and the water we drink. Indiana has already lost 85 percent of her original forested lands in the past 120 years, with less than one percent of the original old growth left. We must together challenge the federal and state governments to protect and expand the public forests of Indiana instead of cutting and burning them down.Here’s what you can do:1) Please support Protect Our Woods. Also, please consider an additional donation for the Public Lands Program. This will help us to pay court filing fees, and to get the help we need for our legal and public outreach efforts. We are an all-volunteer organization without paid staff and all money goes directly into program actions.2) Get a group, organization, school class, church, and/or business to sponsor a talk on the benefits of public forest protection by a Protect Our Woods volunteer. Contact Karyn Moskowitz. 3) Organize a local Forest Watch group to adopt an area of state or national forest and monitor areas that are proposed for logging and/or burning. For more information about Forest Watch groups contact Karyn Moskowitz. Please act today and get involved! Help protect the forests we all love. Sincerely, Jeanne Melchior President, Protect Our Woods
PO Box 352 Paoli, Indiana 47454 |