FORESTRY IN INDIANA 



INDIANA, once possessed of many million acres of 

 native hardwood forests unsurpassed in size, quality, 

 fineness of grain and so abundant that the state for 

 years was the scene of great timber exploitation, today 

 is paying the penalty for an era of extreme disregard of 

 the future, while this generation finds itself con- 

 fronted by an inadequate timber supply, according to 

 Richard Lieber, Director of Conservation in the Hoosier 

 State. Mr. Lieber is directing a survey of the natural 

 resources of Indiana to be presented to the State Legisla- 

 ture at its meeting in January when his department will 

 seek legislation to reforest the state. The Department's 

 program will ask the state to purchase thousands of acres 

 of waste and eroded hill land and plant them to forests. 



Reckless despoilation and extravagant waste of one of 

 our greatest native assets is causing conservationists to 

 look with apprehension on the lack of timber for present 

 and future needs, Mr. Lieber says. Generations to come, 

 when they learn of our reckless prodigality of this great 

 resource, will criticise us severely for such indifference. 



It was but natural that the civilization of a hundred 

 years ago should make war upon the primeval forests of 

 Indiana along with its inhabitants, the Indian and wild 

 animals. That this civilization has dominated is seen on 

 every hand. But the forces of nature have self-assert- 

 ing laws that can not be evaded or reversed by man. 

 We have been profligate with one of nature's greatest 

 blessings our forests, and today we are paying the 

 penalty. Our atonement and restitution must come 

 through a concerted policy of replacing as far as our 

 means will permit, this natural heritage that is in grave 

 danger of complete extinction. 



Since time was reckoned forests have served different 

 races of people in different periods in different and vary- 

 ing masures. History tells us that forests gave our 

 aboreal ancestor all his food and practi.ally all his 

 shelter. The American Indian is the first race of man 

 of whose mode of living we have an accurate knowledge. 

 The forests directly or indirectly gave the Indian within 

 the Territory of Indiana his sanctuary and sustenance. 



The profound influence of the forest on this race of 

 people is seen in their idea of immortality. Their con- 

 ception of the Great Beyond was a well stocked forest 

 which they called "The Happy Hunting Ground." 



When the European came to Indiana he found heavy, 

 luxuriant and gigantic forest trees. It was necessary 

 for him to have cleared fields ; so he deadened great 

 forest areas, which as soon as they were dry enough to 

 burn, were felled and destroyed. The forests provided 

 timber for block houses, stockade, log stable, rails for 

 his fences and his fuel, but these rquirements had no 

 appreciable effect in diminishing the forest area. It was 

 when the first railroads were extended into Indiana from 

 the East, that a new epoch of f&rest destruction began. 

 The rail arteries opened a new field of enterprise the 

 marketing of timber in Eastern states and in European 



48 



countries, and shortly Indiana's wonderful forest re- 

 sources become known to the world. 



Lumber companies, inspired only by enthusiasm and 

 too often greed which knew no bounds, attacked the 

 primeval forests, each in a mad race to strip its territory 

 and market its timber first ; then to move forward and 

 continue the destruction. Much of that which escaped 

 the timber crews fell victim to forest fires which 

 denuded and left bleak, barren and blackened, thousands 

 of scorched acres, and swept away in flame and smoke, 

 millions of dollars' worth of property. 



So attacked on one side by commercial interests in- 

 flamed to frenzy in an effort to produce more and ever 

 more board feet of lumber, and on the other side by 

 conflagrations often directly due to carelessness, the once 

 great hardwood forests of Indiana, which gave the state 

 the proud position of a leader in timber production in 

 the Union, have dwindled until today there remains but 

 a remnant of the former formidable possessions. 



Today there are thousands of acres of cleared land in 

 Southern Indiana which are not now farmed because 

 they have washed or eroded so that they cannot be 

 farmed or are too unprofitable for agriculture. They 

 are growing up in poverty grass, weeds, briars, sassafras, 

 persimmon, etc. The State Forester tells us that all 

 such land will not grow a permanent and profitable agri- 

 cultural crop, that it is essential forest land and should 

 never have been used for any other purpose than grow- 

 ing trees. 



Among the forest influences which should be consid- 

 ered are the effects of the removal of forest cover in 

 causing irregularity of stream flow due to the drying up 

 of streams and springs, together with the resultant de- 

 structive floods. Some eminent authorities say the stop- 

 ping of floods is an engineering problem but that forests 

 can be depended upon to render the flow of water through- 

 out the year more uniform. Another marked result of 

 deforestation is the lowering of the water table as a 

 result of drying up of springs and streams. Ground 

 water has been lowered from two to twelve feet below 

 its former level in some sections of Indiana as a result 

 of deforestation. 



Forestry is a new science in America and nowhere 

 in this country is there greater need of adoption of its 

 teachings than in Indiana. Nowhere are the conditions 

 for a broad forest policy more favorable. In Wisconsin 

 for instance, where depleted forest conditions are simi- 

 lar to the era of destruction prevalent in Indiana, the 

 Wisconsin Legislature appointed a Conservation Board 

 whose labor is characterized by a continuous, constant 

 and progressive forest policy. Not only were adequate 

 powers given this board by statute, but ample appropria- 

 tions were made to insure their successful exercise. 



When it is once thoroughly understood that scientific 

 forestry does not mean the witholding of valuable agri- 

 cultural soil, but only the retention for timber of such 

 lands as are less profitable for other purposes, it is 

 logical to believe that a concerted effort will be made in 

 the United States to replenish a great natural resource 

 that is nearly exhausted because of reckless squandering 

 and the theory that forest products were illimitable. 



