History of the Indiana Forest Alliance
1996
The Indiana Forest Alliance is 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, 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 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.
