[Imc] LETTER TO THE EDITOR( GUEST COLUMN)

[blackwidow]

brief bio: PICTURE ATTACHED AND AT BOTTOM OF MESSAGE

David Haberman is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at

Indiana University who teaches courses on religion and ecology.

contact information:

email: dhaberma at indiana.edu

telephones: (home)812-323-9768; (office)812-855-8894 or 812-855-3531





"Time to Stop Logging Our 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. Thinking 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 that the DNR operates a commercial logging program on our state

forests. What I have learned since has only increased my concerns.

Although polls consistently indicate that the majority of the

people of Indiana are against commercial logging in our state forests it

continues. State forests are publicly owned, but the DNR has repeatedly

ignored the voice of the people in deciding how to use this public land.

Besides supplying clean air and water, our state forests provide necessary

wildlife habitat and wonderful 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. Surprisingly, there is no formal

process for public comment on timber sales. 

The demand for timber in Indiana could easily be met by

sustainable harvesting on private lands. The state forests comprise only

.6% of Indiana's land, and yet provide recreational enjoyment for many.

The state forests of Indiana contribute only 1% of the state's timber

supply, and Indiana now produces about 40% more wood than we use. The

impact of ending logging in our state forests would therefore be minimal;

the market does not need to be supplemented with subsidized timber from

public lands. By selling timber at subsidized rates, logging 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. A small amount of money also goes to counties

that contain state forest land as compensation for logging; however, the

payments are often not enough to cover the costs involved in repairing

county roads damaged by heavy logging equipment. In addition to serving

these counties with a healthy watershed, a forest that is left intact

would bring far more tourist dollars that the money received from the

state logging program.

Roads and log yards required for logging operations create gaps in

the canopy and greatly change the ecology of the forest. Logging fragments

a forest, decreasing the ecologically important interior forest habitat

that many migratory birds need to survive in our region. 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. Likewise the gas, oil, and hydraulic fluid that leak from this

equipment seriously compromises the forest environment. Biologists today

have made it very clear that biodiversity is necessary for the future of

all life on the planet. Since we do not have much say about what happens

on private land, our only hope for establishing preserves for biodiversity

and allowing at least some of our forest land to return to a mature

condition is our public land. 

The 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. And

nature has produced healthy forests for millennia without human

assistance. The DNR also maintains that logging our state forests serves

to demonstrate environmentally responsible forestry, but such educational

programs could easily be carried out by the DNR on select private lands. 

We in Indiana are blessed with beautiful forests on public land in

the southern part of the state. 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. House

Majority Leader, Representative Mark Kruzan will be introducing a bill

this session that is designed to bring an end to commercial logging on our

state forests. Please join him in this noble effort by writing or calling

your state representative (200 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204;

1-800-382-9467) and asking him or her to support this important bill.









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