IWF RESOLUTIONS

Resolution No. 2010-01

U.S. ARMY NEWPORT CHEMICAL DEPOT

WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of the Army has declared the Newport Chemical Depot (NECD) to be surplus property; and

WHEREAS, the total acreage is approximately 7,000 acres;

WHEREAS, less than 4% of Indiana acres are public lands; and

WHEREAS, biodiversity conservation is of utmost importance to all conservationists, and the NECD represents one of the most significant opportunities in Indiana for conservation efforts; and

WHEREAS, the habitat on NECD represents an outstanding opportunity for restoration management for 2,000 acres of forests, 213 acres of wetlands, 3,000 acres of agricultural lands, 336 acres of the largest contiguous black soil Tallgrass prairie in the State; including 176 acres of High Quality Natural Communities that are rare or critically imperiled in the State and 680 acres of Natural Areas; and 

WHEREAS, there is documentation of over 150 species of birds, 35 mammals, 15 species of reptiles, 15 species of amphibians and 32 species of fish, and more than 400 species of plants (including five State watch-list species); and

WHEREAS, nine (9) endangered species are known to be present on NECD, namely the Indiana bat, Peregrine falcon, Northern harrier, Virginia rail, Henslow’s sparrow and Sedge wren; and

WHEREAS, the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Protection Act and Executive Order 13186 -- Responsibilities of Federal Agencies To Protect Migratory Birds provide protection and conservation of the Indiana bat and migratory birds at NECD; and the Clean Water Act provides protection and conservation of the wetlands; and the Farmland Protection Policy Act may provide protection for farmlands, forest land, pastureland, cropland, or other land, but not water or urban built-up land of NECD;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Indiana Wildlife Federation, Inc. in annual meeting June 4 and 5, 2010 at Clifty Falls State Park, Madison, Indiana, strongly urges the State of  Indiana through the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and any other appropriate agencies to conserve and protect the aforementioned natural resources for compatible public outdoor recreation activities such as hunting, fishing, trapping, wildlife watching, mushroom hunting, hiking, biking; and to conserve and protect the agricultural lands for future agricultural production areas or future restoration areas.

Resolution 2010 – 02

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE FOREST MANAGEMENT IN INDIANA

WHEREAS, Indiana has more than 4.7 million acres of forest land, about 19 percent of the state’s total land base, making it a very important habitat type for Indiana’s diversity of wildlife species and,

WHEREAS, 87 percent of Indiana’s forest land is privately owned, divided up among more than 100,000 landowners, which leaves only about 537,000 forested acres (out of Indiana’s 23.2 million acre land base) in public ownership and,

WHEREAS, private forest management and land use ranges from little or no management or use to active timber production, with many types of land and forest uses and management mixed in, creating a patchwork of forest types, intensive agriculture and human use areas, often producing poor wildlife habitat for many wildlife species and,

WHEREAS, prior to man’s relatively short influence, ecologically speaking, on the state’s landscape, Indiana forests were greatly influenced by natural forces such as wildfires, insects, flooding, storms and old age, in fact, the very nature of Indiana’s current forested environment was initiated by much more harsh disturbances occurring at a much broader scale and,

WHEREAS, natural forests are dynamic, ever-changing systems due to plant succession and natural forces, that will change over long time horizons, creating an ever-changing mix of young, middle aged, old and dying forests, dictating the types of wildlife species that can survive with each of those successional plant stages and,

WHEREAS, adding man’s influence to the forest management mix, often based only on short-term and exploitive goals, has dramatically shaped a forest landscape that has gone from mass deforestation to natural tree repopulation and now significant forest protection and,

WHEREAS, maintaining the greatest diversity of wildlife species will require habitat on both ends of the plant successional continuum, the early (0-20 years after cutting) and old growth (greater than 100 years) stages of forest succession, while creating an appropriate mix of frequently disturbed forest, less frequently disturbed mid-successional forest, very infrequently disturbed older forests and completely undisturbed forest and,

WHEREAS, prescribed fire, mowing, herbicides and timber cutting are man-made tools used to mimic natural disturbances and necessary to overcome habitat deficiencies not now provided by man-suppressed natural disturbances and,

WHEREAS, 70 percent of all wildlife species living in Indiana require the kind of habitat that is found in forests less than 40 years old and,

WHEREAS, given the uncoordinated and unpredictable nature of private land forest management, the best chance of improving and maintaining diversity of Indiana’s wildlife species and populations, in the short term, will occur on public forest land and,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Indiana Wildlife Federation, Inc. in annual meeting June 4 and 5, 2010 at Clifty Falls State Park, Madison, Indiana, strongly urges the State of  Indiana and the Federal Government, through the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the US Forest Service to manage public and private forest lands with sustainable management activities and plans that promote all stages of forest succession across the landscape, ensuring the health and balance of Indiana’s forest wildlife habitat for years to come, and that recognizes the environmental, economic and recreational values of forests in the following more specific manner:

• Public forest lands management should utilize a combination of uncut and over mature areas (approx. 15% of the total area) with the remaining woodlands on an 80 to 100-year cutting rotation using a balance of uneven and even-aged systems to promote diverse stands of varying age and composition.
• Strategies for individual areas should take into account the surrounding landscape, strive to minimize forest fragmentation and protect special areas such as wetlands, waterways, unique wildlife habitats, and maintain corridors and minimum habitat area requirements of wildlife species.
• Support, increase and properly fund private forest land management education and informational programs stressing proper wildlife habitat management not only within the boundaries of individually owned land, but across a broader landscape.
• Whenever possible, public forest management plans should begin to take into account landscape wildlife habitat needs which will include, by necessity, private land management just as watershed management is now beginning to be recognized as vital for improvement of our water quality.
• And finally, but certainly not least, dramatically increase funding for public forest land acquisition and active management.