Take Action
State Forest Protection
Logging is proposed for Morgan-Monroe/Yellowwood State Forest Backcountry area.
Help us protect it! This 3,014 acre primitive forest area has been protected from logging since the Backcountry was first established in 1981. As part of dramatically increased logging on state forest lands in the last several years, the state has decided to abandon its protection policy and allow logging in the Backcountry area.
The Morgan-Monroe Backcountry area is important to Hoosiers for many reasons including:
• it’s located within 30 minutes of Indianapolis, this area is a popular recreation destination offering hiking, hunting, backcountry camping, trail marathons, bird and other wildlife watching;
• it has the potential to become an old forest habitat of 150 years or older, which is rare in Indiana today;
• and for ecological reasons. The Backcountry area was identified by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) as “high conservation value forest” under the DNR’s state forest certification process. However, the DNR failed to designate the area as such, leaving the Morgan-Monroe/Yellowwood State Forest Backcountry area open to logging plans.
• The State Forest Plan envisioned areas set aside, free from timber harvesting, for aesthetic, recreational, or ecological purposes
State Representatives Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington) and Ralph Foley (R-Martinsville) have filed bills the last two legislative sessions to protect this natural area from logging and other commercial activities, but this effort has been unsuccessful.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) can and should act to protect the backcountry. Please write or email DNR Director Rob Carter and State Forester Jack Seifert to request protection for the Morgan-Monroe/Yellowwood State Forests Backcountry area.
Rob Carter: rcarter@dnr.in.gov
Jack Seifert: jseifert@dnr.in.gov
Indiana Heritage Trust
Write to Governor Mitch Daniels and ask him to release $3 million in appropriated funds for the Heritage Trust. Also contact your state legislators and urge them to support a $2 million annual appropriation for the Heritage Trust in the upcoming 2011-2013 state budget.
Read the Indiana Conservation Alliance letter sent to Gov. Daniels urging release of the Heritage Trust appropriations.
Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge
Contact your Congressman and Senators Lugar and Bayh and urge them to support a $1.6 million appropriation for land acquisition for the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge for fiscal year 2011. This funding would allow the refuge to seek the purchase of an additional 1,070 acres on six tracts, which contain seven lakes, a half-mile of the historic Wabash & Erie Canal, rolling grasslands, natural unmined forested bottomlands, and reclaimed mineland. These are valuable properties due to their size and habitat diversity, and may be lost to other buyers if not acquired soon.
It is important that Congress hear from Hoosiers about their support for refuge acquisition funding. Please email or fax (regular mail undergoes long delays for security reasons) your comments to:
Sen. Richard Lugar
(202) 228-0360 fax
Sen. Evan Bayh
(202) 228-1377 fax
Congressman _________
