Pierce bill seeks to protect thousands of acres of forest across Indiana

For immediate release:
Jan. 10, 2014

INDIANAPOLIS – More than 7,000 acres of forest land across southern Indiana would be permanently protected from commercial development under legislation authored by State Rep. Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington).

House Bill 1179 would prevent motorized access, sale of timber, or any commercial activity in back-country sections of the Yellowwood State Forest, the Morgan-Monroe State Forest, the Jackson-Washington State Forest, and the Clark State Forest.

Those sections of the state forests were designated by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in the 1980s as places where hikers and campers can have a wilderness experience.

“When the DNR originally designated these back-country areas, it limited transportation into the areas to walking, and admonished users of the areas to enter with the philosophy that they would disturb as little as possible,” Pierce said. “However, in the last decade, the DNR has opened the areas to commercial logging.”

The bill’s introduction was sparked by DNR continuing to sell logging rights to sections of the back country in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest.

“Unfortunately, the DNR has put profit before preservation by opening the back country to logging,” Pierce said.

“Ironically, DNR officials say that clearing sections of the forest is necessary to keep it healthy. Those claims ignore the fact there is little wilderness left in the state where Hoosiers can experience old growth forests that have been undisturbed by commercial activities.

“Long before the DNR existed, old growth forests prospered in Indiana without management plans that called for their commercial logging. The least we can do is give these small sections of forest a chance to return to what was once common in Indiana,” he concluded.