Forestry survey available April 12 to collect public opinion

Indiana DNR Release:

Anyone interested in Indiana’s forests, including but not limited to conservationists, forest stakeholders, landscape stewards and Department of Natural Resources partners will be able to give their opinion on best forestry strategies through an online DNR survey starting Monday, April 12.

The survey can be accessed through any computer with an Internet connection, either at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9HWLZ7J or via the DNR Division of Forestry Web site: http://www.in.gov/dnr/forestry/5436.htm.

The survey will be open for responses for two weeks and will close on April 26 at 6 p.m.

“Eighty-five percent of Indiana’s forests are owned by private individuals,” said DNR State Forester John Seifert. “That is why it is important that their voice be heard in developing a statewide strategy.”

The results will be discussed, refined and prioritized at the upcoming Forest Conservation and Stewardship Strategy Forum in Indianapolis, April 30–May 1, at The Nature Conservancy’s Efroymson Conservation Center.

This stakeholder event is part of a Farm Bill-required planning effort that will be completed this June. The goal of the effort is to identify where issues and priorities converge to help ensure that limited federal and state resources are being spent in a manner that produces the greatest benefit.

In a similar stakeholder survey in June 2009, more than 1,200 respondents identified fragmentation and conversion of forestland, conservation of soil and water resources, invasive species, and maintenance of biological diversity as the most important issues affecting the 5.1 million acres of forests in Indiana.