BEDFORD, Ind. — The USDA Forest Service is planning prescribed burns in the Hoosier National Forest this fall.
The forest service claims the fires will be "used to maintain, restore or improve early successional habitat for wildlife, maintain wetlands, restore and maintain unique barren communities, and restore oak-hickory dominated ecosystems."
The forest service says the fires also reduce the amount of material on the forest floor to lower the risk of wildfires and increase plant diversity.
The Buffalo Springs Restoration project calls for logging, controlled burns, thinning, "herbicide treatment" and more throughout the forest. The planned burns will happen on National Forest Service lands and on adjacent private land – where there have been agreements with the landowners.
People have protested the prescribed burns since early discussions of it.
"The entire thing really revolves around the idea that you believe human beings can do a better job managing a forest than nature itself," said David Seastrom, president of the board of the Indiana Forest Alliance.
Andy Mahler with Protect Our Woods has been fighting this issue for many years. He says the project will log 5,000 acres and burn 15,000 acres.
“This is a backward-looking, short-sighted and ultimately self-serving project," Mahler said.
Mahler is not against logging, but he would like to see it done on the private lands within the forest.
“We could have the public forest for recreation, water quality and those other benefits I mentioned, and have higher-quality, higher-value timber coming off private land," Mahler said.
Homeowners and business in the area of the fires will be notified at least a day or two before.
While the dates of the burns has not been released, when announcements of burns are made, they can be found here.
If you are going to be in the area of the prescribed burns and have questions, call 812-547-9262.
