Logging threatens ‘back country’

David Haberman has for years enjoyed hiking with his son in a secluded area of Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood state forests. It’s one of the few places Hoosiers can experience the beauty of a mature forest, the religious studies professor said.

It’s an area he, and others, worry is now being threatened. 

The area has not been logged since the early 1980s when it was designated as “back country.” But under the current Division of Forestry administration, local environmentalists fear that the forests will be devastated by logging for the first time in nearly three decades.

The Indiana General Assembly last week delayed House Bill 1550, which could prohibit commercial logging and vehicles in the back country areas of Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood state forests.

Legislators will not vote on the bill until the area is further studied.

When the area was designated back country in 1981, the former director of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources James Ridenour announced that these sections of forest were designated “to meet the recreational needs of Hoosiers,” according to a DNR press release.

Other 1981 stipulations required the newly designated areas to be “relatively free from roads” and vehicles.

While logging wasn’t prohibited, the press release states that “the management of the timber resources within the back country area will be compatible with all other uses permitted.”

While Haberman, who is also president of the board of trustees for the Indiana Forest Alliance, said the back country area has not been exempt from logging, in the past state officials guaranteed the back country would not be touched.

Haberman said the area will not be the same if logging is permitted.

“By the time it’s finished, it’s a war zone” because of large trucks and machinery driving through the area, knocking down other trees as well, Haberman said.

Rep. Ralph Foley, R-Martinsville, said he’s not opposed to timbering, but said the back country has a special distinction for recreational use only. Foley co-authored the bill with Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington.

“A significant experience can be had by hiking in the back country area,” Foley said.   
Last March, the Bloomington City Council passed Resolution 08-06, which acknowledged the value of the area and urged that “it be permanently protected from commercial logging.” 

Despite some criticism, John Seifert, director of the Division of Forestry, said while there has been a long period without timbering in those areas, it has “never been exempt” from the practice.

He said forest maintenance requires some single-tree harvesting.

Jim Allen, the property manager for both forests, said most visitors wouldn’t notice any change because sales wouldn’t be along frequented trail routes.

After collecting data, including types of trees, age and other factors, the Division of Forestry under the Department of Natural Resources decides how to manage the forest. 

After assessing recent data, Allen said the Division decided the area could be logged. He said the forest would remain sustainable because the area could be logged by “taking off less than the annual growth per year.”

Seifert said logging is necessary to maintain the forest, and “we can make some money.”

Most of the timber goes to Indiana companies, he said, and taxpayers would benefit from the sales as well. 

“These forests are there because we manage them. If we did such a poor job, then they wouldn’t be here,” Seifert said.

But Haberman and Rhonda Baird, director of the Indiana Forest Alliance, said logging is not only harmful, it isn’t necessary for forest maintenance.

“That flies in the face of common sense,” Haberman said. “It’s highly detrimental to an ecosystem.”

Both he and Baird said dying trees provide habitats for animals and nutrients for soil and that forests have survived before they were maintained by governments.

“Our proposal is not a radical proposal,” Haberman said. “It’s to conserve the status quo.”

Baird said that once an area is logged, it’s not the same.

“It’s horrific,” she said. “You see something that’s been disturbed, in recovery – very different from the back country now.”