IFA Gains Ground in the Indiana State House But We Must Keep at It!
An amendment to SB 363 calling for the set aside of 10% of state forests failed to pass the State House of Representatives in March by a vote of 42 […]
Contact Your Legislators to Protect Indiana’s State Forests!
By Jeff Stant, IFA Executive Director Updated March 22, 2019 Virtually every week, the Indiana Forest Alliance hears from concerned Hoosiers about proposed logging in their favorite areas of Indiana’s […]
Senate Bill 610 Creates Accountability for Indiana State Forests
Call your Indiana State Senator today at (800) 382-9467. Express your support for this bill and ask that they contact Senator Sue Glick, Chair of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, and ask that this bill have a hearing.
Forests to Faucets: Logging in the Hoosier National Forest & the Lake Monroe Watershed
Many forests leads to faucets — watersheds and forests are naturally interconnected.
Why Forest Advocates Should Have Hope
“When you look at the level of bipartisan support in both chambers,” said IFA Executive Director Jeff Stant, “you have to conclude that setting aside some of the state forests from logging is an idea that is gaining traction in the legislature.”
Three Economic Reasons to Preserve Old Forests
Today, workers and their employers see opportunities for the reflection and experience offered by natural areas as a positive in site selection. Thus, reserving more of our State Forests as undisturbed Old Growth areas enhances Indiana’s desirability as a place to live and work, an obvious economic development opportunity.
Indiana’s Forests: For The People
We submit that SB 420 is not telling our foresters how to practice silviculture or stopping logging in our state forests at all. Rather, the legislature established our state forests originally for the public benefit of all and therefore has a legitimate role to play in establishing the objectives that state forests should serve.
An Aversion to Nature’s Nouns
Stewardship requires emotional commitment, requires that we love what we steward. Increasingly we exercise control over the material world, without knowing what we are controlling, accelerating the exploitation of nature, thereby decreasing true stewardship.
A Smaller Portion of a Small Pie
We had a list of compartments and tracts that were protected from logging so we knew exactly where they were. But then DNR changed their minds. They no longer recognize those Old Forest areas and some of those tracts have now been logged.
Protecting the Unknown
Old-growth forests provided habitat that support rare biological diversity and unique assemblages of animals, plants, and fungi that are found nowhere else but in old-growth forests.