(INDIANAPOLIS) – The Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry is preparing its new 10-year strategic action plan for all of Indiana’s forests, known as the 2020 Forest Action Plan.
IDNR staff want to hear from groups and organizations as well as individuals on forest management issues in Indiana.
The plan is required by the IDNR to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and addresses private and public forests.
Please provide input in one of two ways: formally and informally. All comments are due by June 30.
Informally: As an Individual
This is your opportunity to ask for more forests to be restored in Indiana and more older growth forests to be allowed to mature on the state’s limited public lands. Please review the criteria and submit your comments by June 30, 2019. Read the considerations below to help you prepare your comments.
- Invitation letter from the Indiana State Forester, John Seifert
- Review background information posted by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
- Ask to be included as a “stakeholder” in the development of this plan and given a chance to comment on what you want from the beginning of the process.
- Please send your comments to the Division of Forestry at forestryinfo@dnr.in.gov with “Forest Action Plan” in the subject line. Add IFA in the CC section: info@indianaforestalliance.org.
- Send a copy of your message to Governor Holcomb. Select “Natural Resources, Department of” as your topic.
Formally: As a Group or an Organization
To have input into the development of this plan as a group or organization, review the criteria and submit your materials by June 30, 2019. Read the considerations below to help you prepare your comments.
- Invitation letter from the Indiana State Forester, John Seifert
- Review background information posted by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
- Please send your comments to the Division of Forestry at forestryinfo@dnr.in.gov with “Forest Action Plan” in the subject line. Add IFA in the CC section: info@indianaforestalliance.org.
- Send a copy of your message to Governor Holcomb. Select “Natural Resources, Department of” as your topic.
Materials Requested by DoF
- A copy of your organization’s most recent strategic plan – PDF or working web link is fine.
- Your organization’s priority forest areas – GIS shape file (zip folder) highly preferred.
- Any statewide or regional plans that you think should be incorporated into the Indiana Forest Action Plan, besides the State Wildlife Action Plan – web link preferred.
- Any multi-state areas that are a priority – GIS shape file (zip folder) highly preferred, please also include description describing resource concern, species of concern or out of state partners.
- Any other information you’d like to see included in the Forest Action Plan – PDFs of published peer-reviewed research or accessible links to complete documents are preferred over general suggestions.
Considerations when compiling materials, as an individual or as a group or organization
- This is a plan required by the IDNR to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and addresses private and public forests, so direct your comments broadly when possible but in some cases, comments are only relevant to public forests (such as protecting trails).
- Don’t spend a great deal of time on this, what is important that you register your comments.
- In Seifert’s letter, he requests a strategic plan. However, many of us do not have written strategic plans, so just write a statement of your personal or group mission.
- If you can reference specific areas such as Jackson Washington State Forest or whichever state forest that is relevant to you, please do since many do not have GIS Shape files. In the case of a private forest, you may wish to include coordinates generated from Google maps.
- The IDNR’s instructions are posted online.
- Please review the 2010 Assessment which on page 6 shows how the issues were previously ranked. This may help you formulate your own rankings.
- Check out the requirement checklist for this plan, Statewide Forest Resource Assessments and Strategies (State Forest Action Plans) Requirements Checklist
For Groups or Organizations Submitting Materials
The materials above can be sent to the Division of Forestry’s forestryinfo@dnr.in.gov email address with “Forest Action Plan” in the subject line. Organizations can also subscribe to updates about the Forest Action Plan by emailing the same address.
Updates will be posted online: https://www.in.gov/dnr/forestry/5436.htm.
