Column: Which will it be for Hoosier National Forest: Logging and burning or wilderness?
Are you confused about what’s planned for Hoosier National Forest? Because I am.
There are two seemingly contradictory actions planned. The first plan, proposed by Hoosier National Forest (HNF), will log 4,375 acres, repeatedly burn 13,500 acres and apply herbicides to 1,970 acres, all within the Lake Monroe watershed.
A second plan to protect the forest and the lake is SB 2990 which was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Mike Braun. SB 2990 will double the size of the 13,000-acre Deam Wilderness and designate an additional 30,000 acres of HNF land as a National Recreation Area, all within the existing lands of HNF and the proposed Houston South footprint.
The news: Indiana senator proposes expansion of Deam wilderness, new national recreation area
How is this happening?
Since 2021, the U.S. Forest Service has been planning to log, burn and apply herbicides to thousands of acres in the Lake Monroe watershed. Friends of Lake Monroe brought attention to this proposal and raised concerns that the project would further worsen the water quality of Lake Monroe.
At first the Forest Service claimed that the project was not in the Lake Monroe watershed. Then, when faced with the facts, they claimed the project was not in the “municipal” Lake Monroe watershed, a distinction that is not linked to any physical reality.
With very little analysis, the Forest Service determined that the project would have no significant impact on Lake Monroe and planned to implement the project without further analysis or revisions. After lawsuits filed by Indiana Forest Alliance, Hoosier Environmental Council, Monroe County and Friends of Lake Monroe, the courts ruled that the Forest Service failed to adequately evaluate the effects of the project on Lake Monroe.
Column: Houston South project is necessary for health of Hoosier National Forest
Now District Ranger, Chris Thornton, tells us that protecting Lake Monroe is a top priority for HNF and that logging and burning and applying pesticides to thousands of acres in the Lake Monroe watershed is protecting water quality. Somehow Thornton finds that removing 45% of the standing carbon in HNF, removing mature and old growth oak and hickory trees and clearcutting pine stands that are already transitioning to hardwoods is protective of water quality.
Most of this activity will occur on soils classified as highly erodible. Sen. Braun’s bill to designate most of these HNF acres as either wilderness or recreation area is truly protective of water quality and requires protection of Lake Monroe water quality be included in the management plan for the recreation area. The bill also sets up an advisory committee to develop a management plan for the recreation area that would include community leaders as well as the Forest Service.
The expanded wilderness area would be managed in the same way as the existing Deam wilderness where nature is allowed to take its course.
Will there be less oak and hickory and more beech and maple if the Houston South project is withdrawn? Possibly, but Purdue researchers predict that the drier conditions we are experiencing due to climate change would favor oak and hickory over the less drought tolerant beech and maple, so it is not clear what the outcome will be. The clear benefits of protecting HNF lands within the Lake Monroe watershed far outweigh the uncertain benefits of the Houston South logging and burning project.
Friends of Lake Monroe encourages HNF to support the wilderness expansion and drop the Houston South project.
Sherry Mitchell-Bruker is a hydrologist and the founder of the Friends of Lake Monroe.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Column: Forest Service should drop Houston South, support SB 2990
