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History
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1996 - Indiana
Forest Alliance formed to coordinate efforts of
existing
forest protection and conservation
organizations and concerned
citizens.
Participating organizations include Heartwood,
Protect Our
Woods, Hoosier Environmental Council,
Sierra Club, Sassafras Audubon
Society, The Hoosier
National Forest Network, and the IU
Student
Environmental Action Coalition.
1997
IFA organizers file lawsuits to stop proposed
“salvage logging” on
the Hoosier National Forest.
Court rules that the "Salvage Rider" passed
by
Congress exempts salvage sales from all forest
protection and citizen
oversight laws.
1998 -
Indiana Forest Alliance monitors salvage logging
operations,
documenting and publicizing timber theft
and gross environmental degradation
1999
IFA plays an active role in the Protect Griffy Alliance,
the
community effort that successfully campaigned to
stop forest clearing by
Indiana University
for
golf course expansion in the Lake Griffy
watershed
First annual Indiana ForestFest! held
at Yellowwood State Forest.
2000 IFA files
its first lawsuit over the Hoosier National
Forest’s
“forest openings” program.
IFA, along
with Protect Our Woods, the Hoosier Environmental
Council and
others develop a “Conservationists
Alternative” management plan for the
Hoosier National
Forest. The plan was endorsed by 15 organizations
in the
state and submitted to the Forest Service at
the formal start of the
revising of the current
forest plan.
2001 The Indiana Forest
Alliance and Indiana University Student
Environmental
Action Coalition (SEAC) successfully campaign for the
Indiana
University Administration to adopt an “old
growth purchasing policy” that
prohibits the purchase
by the University of wood or paper products
sourced
from old-growth forests."
IFA, with
other individuals and organizations, campaigns to
protect Brown
Woods/Stony Springs from taxpayer
subsidized development on Bloomington’s
West Side,
bringing greenspace preservation to the forefront of
community
issues. The Canterbury Apartments
were eventually constructed on the site.
Another
organization, the Yellowwood Tree-Huggers, stages an 8
month sit-in
up a tree in a logging sale in
Yellowwood State Forest. Governor
O’Bannon
cancelled the sale at the last possible
moment and the effort was successful
in preventing
the cutting of the trees, including the tree they sat
in,
Prometheus.
The Majority Leader of the
Indiana House of Representatives, Mark
Kruzan,
introduces legislation to preserve Indiana’s
state forests and end
commercial logging of the
forests.
2002 The Indiana Division of
Forestry holds the first ever round of “state
forest
open houses” at each of the state forest
properties
IFA files first ever lawsuit in the
history of the state to invoke the
Indiana
Environmental Policy Act of 1972 (IEPA).
IFA
celebrates a victory as an active member of the Paper
Campaign when
Staples Inc. agreed, after a two-year
grassroots push, to a groundbreaking
paper
procurement policy that commits to avoiding endangered
areas and
dramatically increasing the amount of
post-consumer recycled paper in the
products in their
stores.
IFA co-hosts the 2002 Heartwood Spring
Forest Council, “Return of the
Buffalo” at Camp
Rivervale in Mitchell.
IFA and members host the
1st Annual Eastern Forests Defense Camp in
Paoli,
helping train over 100 activists from around
the eastern US in non-violent
forest
defense.
2003 Volunteers from the Indiana Forest Alliance
helped to construct the world’s largest piece of handmade
recycled paper. When completed, the paper was 20 feet by 30
feet and was embedded with wildflower seeds throughout.
It broke a world’s record set in Singapore and was verified
for the Guiness Book of World’s Records.
2004 In response to Heartwood and IFA's concerns over a
massive timber sale on the Harrison-Crawford State Forest
in Indiana Bat habitat, the DoF cancels the sale and
institutes interm management guidelines for the Indiana Bat.
This is the first time a Indiana state forest has submitted
to the federal Endangered Species Act. The interm guidelines
are put in place until the DoF completes the state forest
Habitat Conservation Plan for the Indiana Bat. The guidelines
prevent the logging of hickories, retain the two largest trees
per acre, and allow logging only during winter months.
2005 IDNR Division of Forestry announces the Strategic Plan
2005-7 which increases the amount of logging on state
forests by 400%.
In response to the continued litigation by IFA,
and the threat of new litigation to stop the strategic plan,
the IDNR pushes Senate Bill 354 to amend the classified
forest program through the state legislature. The bill
contains a rider that exempts the Division of Forestry
from the Indiana Environmental Act. Kyle Hupfer,
IDNR Director, admits during a hearing in the Senate
Natural Resources Committee that, "we don't have time
to do studies. We need to get rid of these lawsuits."
2006 The IDNR proposes a 1000 acre land exchange between
Glendale Fish and Wildlife Area and the Black Beauty Coal
Company. The company was planning to strip mine the
wildlife area for coal. The plan was cancelled after
massive public outcry.
In July, IDNR Conservation Officers raid a bipod built
by the Hoosier Forest Defense Network on a logging road
in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest. Claiming they had
received a tip that there was a meth lab operating,
the officers storm in with automatic weapons and threaten
activists with lethal force. One activist is arrested
and pleads guilty to resisting arrest. Four other activists
are cited for illegal camping.
The Division of Forestry undergoes certification under
SFI/FSC standards. The FSC requires that the Division
allow for public comments on strategic planning
to get certification.
2007 IFA starts its Sister Forest campaign in Belize.
Drew Laird, IFA Director, takes four Indiana University
students to the Bladen Rainforest and to Caye Caulker to
experience reef ecology.
Eric Johnson, property manager of Jackson-Washington
State Forest, kills himself and his daughter by
crashing his small plane into his ex mother-in-law's
house. He had gone through a bitter divorce the
following fall. IFA had received emails written by
Johnson criticizing the Division of Forestry
over the 2005 system wide inventory.
2008 The DNR Division of Forestry releases it's Strategic
Plan 2008-2013 and it's Environmental Assessment of logging
on the State Forest System. The EA is a technical win
for the IFA lawsuit. |
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