Contribution of Forests to Indiana's Development 



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INDIANA is an agricultural and industrial State. 

 Before settlement, forests cov^ered about nine-tenths 

 of the land, but now only about one-fifth is forested. 

 To appreciate the part that forests have played in the 

 development of Indiana and the place that forests have 

 in the present economy, it is necessary to know some- 

 thing about the land, the climate, and the people. 



Land and Climate 



Indiana is one of the smaller States in the Union, 

 covering but 36,205 square miles of land, 86 square 

 miles of inland lakes and streams (7),^ and 230 square 

 miles of Lake Michigan (2). Most of the land surface 

 is gently rolling, tillable, and well suited to growing 

 cultivated crops. However, about 6,000 square miles 

 in the southern part of the State is unglaciated (fig. 1), 

 rough, and rather hilly; soils are thinner and less 

 fertile than in the northern part and erode seriously 

 when not protected by vegetation. It is in this section 

 that some large, contiguous forest areas are still found. 

 Several counties are more than half forested. 



Some previously cleared land has been allowed to 

 revert to forest, and additional areas are continually 

 reverting as better land-use practices are adopted on 

 hill farms. Thus in the southern part of the State, 

 forest areas are not only larger but will probably 

 remain about the same size as they are now (fig. 2). 

 Rural people depend upon ofT-the-farm work, much 

 of which can be pro\"ided by logging operations and 

 small woodworking plants. 



All the northern region was glaciated throughout 

 which forests now occur mainly as farm woods, 

 occupying poorly drained soils, stony moraines, steep 

 slopes, and stream margins. The forests of this region 

 are more scattered and on the average are in smaller 

 tracts (fig. 3). The commercial importance of indi- 

 vidual tracts is less than that of the more extensive 

 areas in the southern part of the State, although 

 these northern woodlands contain some of the finest 

 hardwood timber remaining in Indiana. Because 



' Italic numbers in parentheses refer to Literature Cited, 

 page 29. 



ElkmSRT Lfi GRANGE 



RANDOLPH 



l^-i 



BOUNDARIES 



PRAIRIE 



ILLINOIS GLACIER 



WISCONSIN G.iCIER 



Figure 1. — Northern and southern Indiana, as rejerred to in this [ 

 report, are roughly divided by the boundary oj the Wisconsin glacier, 

 which covered all but about 6,000 square miles of the State. 



of the level, tillable land of this region and the deep, 

 fertile soils, the forest area is not likely to be increased 

 much. 



The climate is favorable for growing trees as well 

 as for cultivated crops. The growing season averages 

 about 170 days. Rainfall is fairly well distributed 

 throughout each month, and the total averages about 

 42 inches per year. The State is located in the path 

 of prevailing westerly winds and occasional cyclonic 

 storms. Therefore, farmers value strips of timber and 

 small woodlands as windbreaks and for livestock 

 shelter, as well as for the wood products obtained. 



Forest Resource Report No. 10, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



