BY LINDA McGURK
Indiana Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — As the population continues to increase and the strain on the state’s 5.1 million acres of woodlands is growing with it, the Indiana Statewide Forest Assessment is attempting to determine how to maintain these forests in a sustainable way.
And now is the time for landowners, conservationists and other stakeholders to voice their opinion about the strategy.

“This effort will benefit all forests in the state,” said Chris Gonso, an ecosystems specialist with the Indiana Dept. of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry (IDNR).

In the first phase of the project last year, IDNR distributed a survey to various organizations and individuals identified as stakeholders in Indiana forestry, asking them to rank their level of concern for different challenges facing the state’s forests. The issues that ranked the highest were fragmentation and land conversion, conservation and maintenance of land and water resources, and the spread and control of invasive species. The IDNR used the results from the survey, and the data collected using advanced geospatial technology, to create an assessment of the state of Indiana’s forests.

This draft report is now available for public review at IDNR’s website www.in.gov/dnr/forestry/5436.htm

E-mail comments, suggestions and input to stateassessment@dnr.IN.gov by April 16. “I hope people will be able to flip through the assessment,” Gonso said. “There are a lot of maps, so it should be pretty interesting for people to orient themselves with the set of data, and see what the threats are in their area.”

But reviewing the online assessment is not the only way for the public to voice its opinion. The next step will be to develop a strategy to address the issues facing Indiana’s forests, and the agency is once again turning to the stakeholders for help. Starting April 12, an online survey is available on the IDNR website for two weeks, and on April 30, and May 1, the agency is inviting forestry professionals and the public to an Indiana Forest Conservation and Stewardship Forum in Indianapolis.

“The first day of the forum is oriented towards professionals in land management, natural resources, universities and so forth,” said Gonso. “The second day is oriented towards private landowners and people who are interested in providing opinions but aren’t necessarily (forestry) professionals.”

The idea with the two-day event is to get stakeholders to help outline the strategy and help prioritize where the state should focus its resources.

“If we look at the assessment, it talks a lot about priorities. We need to target the most important forests, so when we find that we have a limited amount of dollars to spend, we’ll spend it where it’ll have the most impact,” Gonso said. “A lot of that will come out in the strategy, for example, do we need more incentives for landowners to manage invasive species or permanently conserve forests?”

About 85 percent of Indiana’s forests are privately owned but the assessment and strategy, which are required under the 2009 Farm Bill in order for the state to get continued forestry funding, covers all the forests in the state, not only those managed by the IDNR.
“There are a lot of things we don’t know about those (privately owned) lands,” Gonso said. “What do the understories and midstories look like? Have they been invaded by invasive species or grazed by deer? That will determine what kinds of forests we’ll have in the future.”

The April 30 and May 1 forums will build on the draft assessment, which provides information on Indiana’s forest conditions, trends, threats and priority landscape areas for both public and private ownerships. Issues covered include fragmentation, soil and water, invasives, biodiversity, recreation, and wood products.

The forums will take place at The Nature Conservancy’s Efroymson Conservation Center, 620 East Ohio Street, in Indianapolis. The April 30 event begins with registration at 9 a.m. and runs until 3:30 p.m, allowing time for afternoon discussions in issue-based workgroups. Lunch is provided. Register for the April 30 session for forestry professionals and serious private landowners by April 28, by calling 317-232-4105 or e-mailing stateassessment@dnr.IN.gov

The May 2 forum for private landowners and other nonprofessional stakeholders runs from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. and does not require registration.