[Imc] LETTER TO THE EDITOR( GUEST COLUMN)
blackwidow
blackwidow at bluemarble.net
Thu Jan 3 14:04:46 UTC 2002
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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