Community discusses Hoosier National Forest management in forum on Earth Day

Earth Day — celebrated on Monday, April 22 — brought together community members, officials from regional groups as well as the U.S. Forest Service to discuss their vision for what's best for the Hoosier National Forest, Indiana's only national forest that covers 204,000 acres from just south of Bloomington to the Ohio River.

Indiana Forest Alliance Executive Director Jeff Stant, Friends of Lake Monroe President Sherry Mitchell-Bruker and Hoosier National Forest Supervisor Michael Chaveas spoke to the audience at the Monroe County Public Library auditorium, each sharing their hope for the national forest that includes portions of Lake Monroe.

U.S. Forest Service priorities for the Hoosier National Forest

Chaveas discussed what a national forest is and the different activities people coming to the Hoosier National Forest enjoy, such as hiking.

“As I see it, a national forest is really about living on and living around land and being a part of it, not being separate from land,” Chaveas said.

A frequent question Chaveas hears regarding forest management is “why don’t you let nature fix all of these problems?” He explained some pieces are currently missing, such as wildlife that once lived in these areas and that has an effect on the forest.

“Are humans going anywhere? I hope not,” Chaveas said. “We can’t eliminate the human impacts. Some of our management activities need to take that into consideration.”

Forest management ensures there is a healthy watershed for the long-term, Chaveas said. A watershed is an area of land that drains water into a specific body of water, and some of the Hoosier National Forest is in the Lake Monroe watershed.

“You have a responsibility to care for this land, and for future generations,” Chaveas said.

Friends of Lake Monroe's perspective on what's best

Sherry Mitchell-Bruker shared that Lake Monroe has 440 square miles of watershed and Hoosier National Forest takes up about 18% of that.

Mitchell-Bruker said Friends of Lake Monroe has priorities for the lake, such as preventing algal blooms, minimizing nutrient inputs to the lake and minimizing sediment emptying into the lake. The Friends are concerned about the U.S. Forest Service's Houston South Vegetation Management and Restoration Project because it would be doing exactly what they are trying to prevent along with burning and logging impacts, she said.

The goal of the Houston South project is to restore the oak hickory tree habitat in Hoosier National Forest. This would include thinning hardwood and pine trees, building 3.2 miles of new roads, applying herbicide treatment to 1,970 acres, conducting prescribed fires on 13,500 acres and more.

“Errors in best management practices implementation and uncertainties in weather forecasting can lead to catastrophic results,” Mitchell-Bruker said.

She then talked about the Deam Wilderness expansion and National Recreation Area bill. S-2990 was introduced by Sen. Mike Braun in the U.S. Senate and in the U.S. House by Rep. Erin Houchin. The bill establishes 29,382 acres in the Hoosier National Forest as a national recreation area and ensures protection of Lake Monroe water quality.

“By expanding the wilderness area we can expand the areas that people can go see wilderness and hopefully reduce the impacts that are now occurring on the (Charles C.) Deam (wilderness),” Mitchell-Bruker said.

Mitchell-Bruker also talked about the Forest Service's National Old-Growth Amendment. It directs all national forests to amend management plans and old-growth forest conditions that will increase biodiversity and reduce wildfire risks.

“Friends of Lake Monroe recommends that Hoosier National Forest should withdraw their proposal for Houston South and Congress should enact S-2990 Deam Wilderness Expansion and National Recreation Area,” Mitchell-Bruker said.

The last speaker was Jeff Stant. He first explained why everyone attended the forum — because they all care about the Hoosier National Forest. He believes watching and learning from the forest should be the priority of Hoosier National Forest.

“It's not about letting the forest be," he said, adding it's about "recognizing that we’re a part of something larger and this forest is that larger thing.”

Stant’s presentation included how U.S. Forest Service management reduces native biodiversity and how restoring oaks will kill most of the native trees that grew in the Hoosier National Forest in pre-settlement times. He discused the differences between the S-2990 plan and the Houston South Project and how each they would impact Hoosier National Forest, in very different ways.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Management of Hoosier National Forest was topic at forum on Earth Day