The Indiana Forest Alliance’s new 6-minute video about Indiana’s quickly diminishing public forestland launched February 1 and has been viewed by thousands of people on YouTube and Facebook. It features eight Indiana residents–not actors–who are experiencing the effects of our state government’s unprecedented increase in logging. Here’s more about each of these forest advocates and why they are concerned about the issue:
Curt Mayfield: Brown County resident, has hunted Turkey, Ruffed Grouse and White-Tailed Deer in Yellowwood and Morgan Monroe State Forests for many years. His best hunting opportunities have been diminished or eliminated altogether by the state forest logging over the past decade.
Teri Bleuel and Charlie McCalla: Brown County residents whose land adjoins Yellowwood State Forests and who are avid hikers. The serenity they sought in living there and their enjoyment of hiking through Yellowwood State Forest have been ruined by heavy logging of Yellowwood all around them.
Jim Jean: Brown County resident and landowner adjacent to Yellowwood State Forest. Also a hunter of White-Tailed Deer, a hiker and a mushroom gatherer. Many of his favorite stands in Yellowwood State Forest have been knocked down by clearcutting and other logging, including logging next to his home.
Dr. Chris Marks: Forest ecologist, author and longtime horseback rider in Owen Putnam State Forest. Also owns land adjacent to this state forest. She is concerned that escalation in logging is harming the nature and purpose of all state forests.
Judy Colby: Founder, President, and resident of Anderson Woods, a camp in Perry County adjacent to Ferdinand State Forest which brings disabled individuals into contact with nature and teaches them about caring for farm animals and wildlife. Judy has been dismayed by the destructive logging on Ferdinand State Forest next to Anderson Woods which has alarmed visitors and degraded the environment around the camp.
Tom Waters: Tom and family has owned land for many years adjacent to the Harrison Crawford State Forest along which the Wild and Scenic Blue River flows. Tom is opposed to the current management practices on the State Forest land which limit the old growth or climax forest percentage to 10% and has the goal of 80% in an interim phase of oak/hickory. Tom is concerned about destructive logging practices along the Blue River which would be detrimental to the river’s water quality.
