A crisis is brewing in IFA’s proposed Wilderness Expansion Area, as the 2 of the 3 Brown County Commissioners are proposing to reopen Combs Road, which was closed decades ago due to extensive and repeated damage as a result of four wheeler and other ORV activity. This road cuts between Browning Mountain and Nebo Ridge. Its reopening as an active county road would put a stake through the heart of the proposed expanded Deam wilderness and result in untold damage to this pristine area in Hoosier National Forest which we are working to protect.
Presently the Combs Road Trail extends down what was once the road bed, most of which has reverted to forest. It will remain a non wilderness corridor if the Benjamin Harrison National Recreation Area and Wilderness Establishment Act (S. 4402/H.R.8535) passes to allow mountain bikers to continue to use the Trail. Reopening Combs Road to cars, trucks and ORVs, would require alot of forest floor to be excavated and many trees to be bulldozed. It will erase the trail and natural habitat, open up deep forest and eliminate the serene wilderness character of the forest that is also a favorite camping area.
The Brown County Board of Commissioners will consider this proposal at their next meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 18 from 2 – 4 p.m. in the upstairs Salmon Room of the Brown County Office Building located at 201 Locust Ln in Nashville, IN 47448.
We need you to attend this meeting.
If reopened, this road would cut right through the heart of the proposed Dean Wilderness expansion, and threaten this precious and fragile area. There is no effective law enforcement in Elkinsville. There are essentially no patrols to prevent the major damage that ORVs were causing to the surrounding forest before Combs Road was closed. Illegal behavior will not be controlled in this area. This is why the road was closed in the first place and why the road should remain closed.
Even if road users stayed on the newly opened road, their presence would be massively disruptive to the Spanker Branch and Combs Creek watersheds (Salt Creek/Lake Monroe tributaries), residents of Elkinsville, lower impact forest users such as hunters, mountain bikers, campers and hikers, as well as the local ecology. The Combs Rd corridor is home to breeding populations of box turtles, bats, bobcats, rattlesnakes, deep forest songbirds and other vulnerable species.
Motorized vehicle traffic will quickly do major damage to the wilderness character of the area.
(We cannot allow rogue Commissioners to subject the pristine Nebo Ridge and all the wildlife who inhabit this area to wanton destruction all for a few thrill-seeking ORV riders. Photo by: Denis Ryan Kelly Jr.)
The Commissioners know what they are doing goes against the will of the people so they are maneuvering to make it harder for the public to attend by holding a meeting in the middle of the workday and announcing that only for this meeting there will be no virtual option.
We must pack the room in response and ensure our voices are heard.
This disastrous, wrong-headed idea is being railroaded through by lame-duck Commissioners who lost reelection this year and will no longer serve on the Board in less than three weeks. This means if we can stop this proposal from moving forward at this meeting, we can likely stop it for good. As a Brown County resident, we need you to attend this meeting and voice your opposition to ensure they are not successful.
We will see you Wednesday, Dec. 18 from 2 – 4 p.m. in the upstairs Salmon Room of the Brown County Office Building located at 201 Locust Ln in Nashville, IN 47448.
