Column: We can't trust forest service to follow best management in Houston South Project

Editor's note: This is the third of three opinion columns responding to columns written by Mike Chaveas about management of the Hoosier National Forest.

In recent articles Mike Chaveas, Hoosier National Forest (HNF) supervisor, makes claims that the Houston South Project (HSP) — logging 4,375 acres, and repeatedly burning 13,500 acres and applying herbicides like Roundup to 1,970 acres — would not degrade water quality in Lake Monroe. The Houston South Project is located entirely within the South Fork of Salt Creek basin, one of three main tributaries to Lake Monroe, the water supply for Monroe County. The project includes areas with highly erodible soils on steep slopes adjacent to streams.

Logging in upstream watersheds will increase sediment, nutrient and toxic herbicide delivery to Lake Monroe. Sediment and nutrients, from logging, construction, and agricultural activities, and septic systems, are carried by streams (Sullivan 2022). Sediments in streams carry nutrients, particularly phosphorus, to Lake Monroe, a lake that already experiences water quality problems from excess nutrients. Harmful algae blooms have occurred annually since 2011.

Mr. Chaveas contends that logging in the HNF will not cause soil erosion because best management practices (BMPs) that are 96% effective nationwide will be implemented. The history of BMP implementation and effectiveness in the HNF and other national forests do not support Mr. Chaveas’ claims. The HNF reports that only 52% of BMPs were fully implemented between 2016-2021 and that less than a 10th of a mile out of 392 miles of dirt and gravel roads associated with logging and administration were maintained to standard in 2022.

In a review of logging activities and BMP implementation in 15 national forests throughout the eastern United States, Brown et al (2013) found that BMPs were routinely implemented unevenly and only over small portions of the logged area. Motha and others (2003) found that timber harvests generate from one to five times more erosion than from undisturbed forests. In a study where the forest service knew that BMP effectiveness was being monitored, the U.S. Forest Service failed to implement BMPs to protect stream water quality. A national forest in Virginia that was studied to monitor BMP effectiveness showed that sediment to local streams was increased by overharvesting and inadequate road and skid trail construction (Barrett et al, 2016).

During a 2018 visit to a 53-acre logging site in the HNF, BMPs had not been effective over time at preventing erosion. During a more recent visit to the same site, the badly eroded logging access road had created an attractive nuisance — forest users left toilet tissue and the access road was deeply rutted. Previous ruts and erosion were corrected only after they were reported. We cannot be confident that HNF will implement and maintain proper BMPs for the many skid trails and roads needed to log 4,375 acres.

Finally, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana found that the HNF Environmental Assessment did not adequately consider the direct, indirect, and cumulative effects resulting from the full implementation of the Houston South Project. Lake Monroe is already impaired. The purported benefits of the Houston South Project do not outweigh the cumulative effects on Lake Monroe due to logging 4,375 acres on highly erodible, steep slopes.

The key to protecting water quality in Lake Monroe is to protect the watersheds and streams feeding it. Minimizing sediment delivery to Lake Monroe is critical to maintaining water quality in the lake. I urge you to contact Hoosier National Forest and your state and federal representatives to let them know that you oppose the Houston South Project.

Christy A. Crandall, PhD, is an environmental researcher and hydrogeologist.