Southern Indiana Business Report
BEDFORD – The Hoosier National Forest Service announced Thursday that a Final Environmental Assessment and Draft Decision Notice for the Buffalo Springs Restoration Project on the Hoosier National Forest is complete and available for public review.
The information can be found at https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/hoosier/?project=60940. This initiates a 45-day pre-decisional objection process.
According to a press release from the Forest Service, “the Buffalo Springs Restoration Project will ensure a healthy and sustainable forest for the future by restoring native ecosystems and improving the forest’s resilience to the threats posed by climate change, non-native species, and insects and disease.”
The area is located in southern Orange County and a portion of Crawford County.
“We’ve worked extensively with our tribal partners to ensure their interests are met and have a long-term agreement in place to ensure all areas will be surveyed by professional archaeologists prior to actions being implemented,” said Chris Thornton, District Ranger for the Hoosier National Forest. “There has been a great deal of public engagement from a wide variety of stakeholders. Our staff has collected data on the ground and used the latest relevant research to plan and evaluate this project.”
The result of the environmental assessment is a “Finding of No Significant Impact,” which means the data supports finding that the environment will not be irreparably affected by the proposed actions. The proposed actions will be gradually implemented over the course of 10 to 15 years.
“The project area is experiencing a steady decline in forest health, including pockets of the deadly oak wilt, as stressors such as overcrowding, more periods of drought, and higher temperatures make trees more susceptible to pests and pathogens,” said Forest Supervisor Mike Chaveas. “Leaving this area untreated will only make matters worse.”
Draft details
The Draft Decision includes the following proposed actions:
- Clearcut 698 acres to remove nonnative pine, create early successional habitat and restore native hardwoods.
- Thinning 2,564 acres to reduce stand density and enhance forest health.
- Stand Improvement on 292 acres to enhance light conditions below the upper canopy and to provide increased growing space to selected trees.
- Prescribed burns of 12,135 to 15,100 acres over the life of the project to create habitat conditions that are conducive to oak and hickory regeneration and reduce existing accumulated fuels and those made available through timber harvest.
Also included among proposed actions is the construction of 2.7 miles of new road, reconstruction of 11.8 miles of existing road and the decommission of 4 miles of road.
The decision noted that four additional alternatives were considered in response to concerns voiced by the public. Those alternatives were eliminated because they did not meet the purpose of the proposal nor move the Forest toward desired conditions.
The Forest has also released a decision memo authorizing post-tornado salvage logging and removal of stream blockages within the Paoli Experimental Forest, which was an area included in the original proposed action for Buffalo Springs. In addition, research on salvage logging after the 2023 tornado will help inform future decisions.
Per the National Environmental Policy Act, anyone who has previously submitted an official comment for this project has 45 days to submit an objection to the draft decision (from the date of publication in the Perry County News, the newspaper of record).