End logging in Indiana state forests

One beautiful autumn day several years ago, I was hiking the Ten O'clock trail in Yellowwood State Forest with my family. About a mile up the trail we came upon a sight that shocked us: all the trees in a large area had been cut to the ground, and several beech trees near the trail had been ringed with a chainsaw.\nThinking that we had stumbled upon a site of vandalism, I called the Yellowwood property manager the next morning to report what we had found. What he told me shocked me further, for he explained that the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) was responsible for what we had observed. It was at that moment that an assumption I shared with many people was shattered. I had assumed that the state forests in Indiana were protected lands, but I discovered that day the DNR operates a commercial logging program in our state forests. What I have learned since has only increased my concerns.\nAlthough polls consistently indicate that most people are against commercial logging in state forests, it continues. The DNR has repeatedly ignored the voice of the people in deciding how to use this public land.\nBesides supplying clean air and water, our state forests provide necessary wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities. When a forest is logged, these valuable services are degraded in order to benefit the private interests of a few people. Commercial logging is simply not compatible with other uses of this land.\nThe demand for timber in Indiana could easily be met by sustainable harvesting on private lands. The state forests comprise only 0.6 percent of Indiana's land, and yet provide recreational enjoyment for many. These forests contribute only 1 percent of the state's timber supply, and Indiana now produces about 40 percent more wood than we use. The market does not need to be supplemented with subsidized timber from public lands. \nLogging on public lands undermines the ability of local land owners and logging companies to increase profits from logging private lands. Most of the funds from the state logging program go to maintain the bureaucracy involved in overseeing the program. In addition to providing a healthy watershed, a forest that is left intact would bring far more tourist dollars than money received from logging.\nRoads and log yards required for logging operations create gaps in the canopy and change the ecology of the forest. A healthy forest depends on a wealth of biodiversity, but operating the heavy equipment necessary to remove large trees from the forest destroys many of the smaller plants, animal habitat and microbiotic organisms that live in the soil.\nThe DNR claims that logging promotes forest health, but even a brief visit to a logging site quickly dispels the truth of this claim. The DNR typically marks the large, commercially valuable trees for sale, not the sick or overcrowded smaller trees. Any gardener knows that you do not weed out the largest, healthiest plants for good cultivation.\nWe in southern Indiana are blessed with beautiful forests on public land. We need to appreciate these wonderful gifts today and protect them for future generations, for in the end healthy forests have much to do with a healthy human future. Indiana House Majority Leader Mark Kruzan (D-Bloomington) introduced a bill this session that is designed to bring an end to commercial logging on state forests.