Letter: Many benefits are gained from managing the forestland around us
by the Four Rivers Forestry Committee
The US Forest Service released a draft environmental assessment for the Buffalo Springs Restoration Project, located on the Hoosier National Forest in Orange and Crawford counties. The goals for the project are to improve foresthealth and resiliency, restore native hardwood species in areas of non-native pines, keep the historic upland oak-hickory community on the landscape, and provide a shifting mosaic of diverse forest ages, structure and composition for diverse wildlife habitats.
People may have heard recently through the media about the numbers of acres slated to be harvested (4,869) and burned (approximately 15,000) during the proposed project. But two things have not been discussed: first, that the harvesting planned for the project is expected to occur over the next 15 years, and the managed burns over the next 25 years. When looking at the totality of the project, it must be noted that it will not all happen in the next one to two years, and it will not be aggressively completed.
The Hoosier National Forest will not be “destroyed”, as recent articles and sign boards claim, and water quality in the Patoka Lake watershed will not be compromised by the project. Most visitors to the 204,000-acre National Forest will likely not even see any portion of the project, as the proposed harvests will only impact 0.02% of the Hoosier, and only 0.07% will be impacted by the managed burns in the proposed project area.
Secondly, and most importantly, the benefits of the restoration project, and forest management in general have not been made clear. Professional foresters base their management decisions on science, research, and years of experience working in the woods. They see that as our forests are aging, they are changing in ways that no one has anticipated, largely because of the lack of disturbance.
It is very short-sighted and self-serving to adopt an attitude of opposition to management practices such as harvests, or fire being used in our working forests. If we are to keep the oaks in the forest, species such as bobwhite quail and wild turkeys, and songbirds such as eastern meadowlark, chestnut-sided warbler, white-throated sparrow, and many many more, we must act now on a landscape scale to manage our forests.
Historically, Native Americans heavily managed the forests across the country. Our forests evolved for thousands of years under a regime of disturbance that included fire, and it is very likely that these fires are the reason we have oaks in our forests today. The idea most people have of settlers finding the “forest primeval” or “old growth forests” when they arrived in this area are a myth. The tulip poplar is an early successional species; the reason they were here was due to the many generations of disturbance to the forests. Their abundance is why they are the state tree of Indiana. Other historical documents, such as surveys, contain further evidence of the disturbance that existed in the area 200 years ago, including many references to fires and early successional tree species regenerating on previously cleared lands.
Disturbance to the forest is life-giving; different ages of forest stands allow for the regeneration of trees, such as oak, that need a lot of sunlight to grow. Different aged stands allow for a wide diversity of plants that support our wildlife. More than 12 species of birds common to our area are now in danger of being eliminated because the tree composition that supports them is reduced as the forest stands age. And species not native to our area, or invasive species, will take over and completely eliminate our native species if they are not aggressively managed.
A healthy forest is a mosaic of tree types and ages. This diversity of ages and species comes with carefully managed disturbance to portions of the forest. Foresters use many different harvest and management techniques, including small clear cuts called regeneration openings. These do not cover extensive acreages within the forest; they are interspersed into older aged stands. When the sunlight reaches the forest floor in these openings, oaks can flourish. In forests without manually created disturbance, the acorns may germinate but they will not grow taller than a few inches because they remain in a dark understory.
Not managing our forests has long-term consequences. Sugar maple and beech are trees that will grow in the shade but most of our mast-producing trees, such as oak and hickory, will not. The maple and beech slowly take over forest stands, and the understory vegetation declines due to the lack of sunlight reaching the forest floor. This reduces plant diversity, wildlife food and habitat.
These types of stands typically exist on sites that resisted frequent fires, such as north slopes and cool, moist coves. They will continue to in the future. Unfortunately, maple and other shade tolerant species have been increasing for over 50 years on dryer, upland sites where they were not historically found. Lack of management and disturbance, therefore, is creating a forest that has NEVER existed in this area.
Alternative options to create an oak-hickory habitat are unrealistic and problematic. Private landowners can and do manage their forest land for an oak-hickory regime. However, many are unable to do all the steps necessary to sustain the oaks and hickories, and most privately owned forests are simply too small to make a difference across the larger landscape. Further, disturbances caused by the occasional tornado or storm are not frequent enough or over a large enough area.
Publicly owned forest lands have the land base and consistent expertise and management to achieve this. Long term management plans are in place for generations of foresters to follow, always implementing the most current science and knowledge available. Long-term professional management and disturbance are key to keeping our oak trees in the forest and create the diverse habitat to support our wildlife.
The Buffalo Springs Project is the sort of landscape-scale project that is needed to retain an oak-hickory component in our forests. Forest Service staff are working to protect and enhance the diversity and health of the forest as a whole, both now and for the future.
They are accepting comments on the Buffalo Springs project until December 16: if you have thoughts on alternative ways for the Forest Service to accomplish what is proposed, want to comment on the activities, or to work with the Forest Service in doing what is right for the land, your comments can be US mailed, emailed, faxed, or hand delivered to the Forest Service office. Note that your comments are not a yes or no vote for the project, but they can enhance what is planned for the area.
More information can be found here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=60940. For more information concerning the Buffalo Springs Restoration Project, or questions regarding the commenting process, please contact Kevi Amick at (812) 276-4746 or via email at kevin.amick@usda.gov.
