To the editor:

The IDNR Division of Forestry recently auctioned off 1,733 trees in the middle of the primitive Back Country Area in Yellowwood State Forest for $108,000, or $62 per tree.

This act will gut the heart and very nature of this irreplaceable tourist resource, and tourism is the only big industry in Brown County.

Brown County will receive 15 percent of the net from this $108,000 gross figure. If one subtracts the cost of marking the trees for sale, the cost of cleaning the logging equipment to protect this area from invasives, the close-out costs, plus the law enforcement costs for at least six conservation officers who monitored the sale and the site itself, the net profit to Brown County will be negligible, if anything. Our 15 percent of that net is real chump change. The character of the only large, old-growth forest in Indiana will be changed irrevocably for just a little tiny handful of cash.

We cannot allow our tourist industry to be throttled by short-sighted, corrupt forest woodland management on behalf of the Division of Forestry.

In addition, 226 scientists from universities all over Indiana have asked the governor to stop this sale of our most unique resource. The 40-plus non-DNR scientists and the hundred Hoosier citizens who helped inventory the flora and fauna of this area found it to be the most rich and diverse in the entire state. These REAL scientists are being ignored by pseudo-scientists in forestry who would kill our best forest for a pittance.

The winning timber bid was only half of the average price paid by other wood processors for similar timber bought off private lands in Indiana. There is something very very wrong here. Is this because a small handful of companies always win the bids?

The director of forestry has made himself unavailable to the public to discuss these matters. (Small local logging companies cannot bid on this sale because they do not have the resources to afford the exorbitant bond they would be required to post.)

Gov. Holcomb refuses to stop the sale, as he is deferring to the “judgment” of forestry officials. (Please remember that that this wild area was set aside in perpetuity for us by Governors Orr and Bowen.)

Gov. Holcomb is the only person who can now stop this travesty. Please let him know your feelings on this matter. His contact information is: Gov. Holcomb, ph. 317-232-4567 GovHolcomb@ gov.in.gov.

Thank you,

Charlie Cole, from the heart of our Yellowwood Forest

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