Shilo Morning Drive residents and other citizens concerned about recent logging on State Road 135 North once again packed the Brown County parks and Recreation office at Deer Run Park.

But due to a possible threat of litigation, the board was advised to not answer questions from the public.

“We’re talking about lawsuits and that type of thing, so we’re just here to listen to what you have to say, then we’ll go from there,” board President Jim Hahn said at the June meeting.

According to online court records, a lawsuit has not been filed.

Board members said they were advised by Barnes and Thornburg, county government’s law firm, to not answer questions.

“The only thing I’m asking is for our lake to go back the way it was one minute before the first tree was logged,” Gary Brown told the parks board.

Brown and his wife Jean own property on Shilo Morning Drive, a neighborhood almost directly below an area where logging took place earlier this year on land owned by Brown County Parks and Recreation.

The cut was done at the direction of the parks and recreation department.

After the cut, Shilo Morning Drive residents said the logging caused sediment to enter the upper and lower lakes there, turning them into “chocolate milk.” That continues today, according to residents at the meeting in June.

Other residents came to the Brown County Commissioners meeting on July 3.

County Attorney Jake German said his firm also had advised the commissioners to not answer questions related to the overlook due to the “ongoing threat of litigation.” The county is being represented in this “potential litigation” by attorneys with Government Insurance Exchange, he said.

“There are certain things that are being discussed right now in litigation and we’re not commenting publicly on,” he said.

Members of the public have filed public information requests with the commissioners and parks board regarding the logging. County commissioner Diana Biddle said the county had fulfilled two written record requests.

“I’ve seen records be provided to individuals. We’ve adhered to the law every step of the way,” German said in response to a question from resident Sherrie Mitchell about the county withholding information.

“No one is advising anyone to skirt any sort of issues on public access,” German said.

What about a dam?

Steve Lawson has lived on Shilo Morning Drive for around 40 years. At the parks and rec board meeting, he asked about the possibility of installing a dam above Shilo Morning Drive.

Lawson said he had gone to the commissioners to talk about the logging and was told to go to the parks board. However, at the June meeting, a parks board member told him to go back to the commissioners.

“If you have issues with the overlook and Barnes and Thornburg (the county’s law firm), then you’re best suited to go to a commissioners meeting. That’s who’s in charge of this,” said parks board member John Kennard.

Lawson said his concern is about silt continuing to enter the lake without trees to block heavy rainfall. He said that when parks and rec logged property near Shilo Morning Drive before, they built a dam to help prevent silt from entering the lakes.

Shields said putting a dam where water is coming down the hill is now against Indiana Department of Environmental Management regulations.

“Go see the ruts from where it washed out,” Lawson said. “I was up there for two hours yesterday (June 24) walking all of that. You can go right up and see the ruts from the water. … It don’t take a genius to figure that out.”

Shields said he has not seen silt entering the lake, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening. “I personally have not been to the lakes,” he said.

On June 5, Lawson put two gallons of dye at the bottom of the hill in the logged area. “It rained that night, and the next night, here comes the dye to our lake from up where you had it cut. We have pictures, documented where we put it in and where it came into the lake,” he said.

Lawson said he was concerned that best management practices were not used during the cut. He showed the board a photo he took in May of what he believed to be water coming down the hill to Shilo Morning Drive from a dam and then muddy water coming from the logging site.

Lawson also questioned if Shields had the authority to sign the logging contract with Crowder Hardwood Properties LLC, which did the cutting.

“Typically, in contract situations with boards, boards do sign them,” said parks board member Linda Hobbs. “However, many times over the years, different directors do take direction and sign some contracts.”

Lawson said loggers cut one large road down the hill to get to two trees.

“I was told they were worth between $6,000 and $8,000 apiece. Where did all of the money go that came from all of these logs?” he asked.

He also asked if Shields had received any calls during the cut to stop it.

Both questions went unanswered by the board and Shields.

At the parks and rec board meeting, Mitchell asked if the department was considering providing their own detailed contracts for future logging. The contract for this cut was provided by the logging company, Shields said.

No county attorney reviewed the contract before it was signed.

“I can guarantee you in an incident in any realm similar to a situation that will not happen again as long as I’m on the board,” Hobbs said about signing contracts provided by loggers.

Recommendations?

Allison Shoaf, district manager of the Brown County Soil and Water Conservation District, walked the logged site on State Road 135 North before the February parks and rec board meeting. At that meeting, she gave recommendations about what to do to at the site after it had been logged.

Those included correcting silt fencing that was incorrectly installed by the loggers; installing water bars on every logging trail based on the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ forestry best management practices; seeding about 5 to 8 acres of the logging site; and that any future forest management decision should be made with the guidance of a professional forester or natural resource manager.

Gary Brown inquired about the status of her recommendations at the June meeting. “If I’m burning brush on my property and the wind picks up and I’m not doing the right thing, then it blows over to your property and burns your house down, I think I would be liable for that. This clear-cutting has caused our lake to fill with silt,” he said.

“I don’t understand why it’s so damn hard to do the right thing.”

Shields said additional water bars had been placed at the site, and that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and DNR had looked at them.

He said the silt fencing along a creek near the logging site was removed because obstructions in the waterway are against IDEM and DNR regulations.

“At the time that I was out there with DNR and IDEM, it was determined at that point that the silt fencing was not necessary based on looking at any kind of movement of the siltation or sediment on the property,” Shields said.

Shields said another recommendation that was talked about was sloping the top access road on the logging site, as it is currently holding water — “basically, just to allow the water to channel off of that trail versus staying there,” he said.

“We have been waiting on the loggers to go back with their equipment to regrade that, and unfortunately, in the last several months, it’s been so wet that it was determined it would do more damage trying to correct it.”

Once the weather dries, Shields said the logging company told him they would regrade and reseed that access road.

Another possible solution, he said, would be to install an erosion control blanket with a fabric to prevent loose soil from moving down the hill.

Both Kennard and Hahn said unusually high amounts of rain this year may also have contributed to the increase in sedimentation in the Shilo Morning Drive lakes, along with delaying remediation.

“After the first meeting with you people about the seeding, for example, it rained the next two or three weeks in a row. We couldn’t get out there to seed. It should have been seeded within a week, I understand that, but if you remember the weather after that, there was just no way to do it,” Hahn said.

Future plans?

At the March parks and rec board meeting, Dan Shaver with the Nature Conservancy spoke with the board about placing nearly 160 acres of the State Road 135 North overlook properties into the conservancy’s Forest Bank program.

At the May parks and rec board meeting, Shields said he asked Shaver to do an assessment of the land first before the board agrees to move forward, according to meeting minutes. A motion was approved to allow the appraisal if it would cost the department less than $500.

The Forest Bank program has two options: A 10-year or 30-year management agreement. The 10-year agreement carries a fee that is due upfront. The Nature Conservancy would work as the forest and wildlife manager for parks and rec and write a management plan for the property, Shaver said in March. The board would have to approve the plan before it is implemented.

The 30-year agreement includes a timber appraisal, and the Nature Conservancy would pay the department 3 percent of that timber value every year for the length of the agreement. In this case, a management plan would also be written that would also be approved by the board. It would not include an out-of-pocket cost.

When Shields mentioned this possibility at the June meeting, one audience member cautioned against the conservancy’s use of herbicide on invasive species, which could wash down to the Shilo Morning Drive lakes, too.

A decision has not been made on whether or not to enter in to the Forest Bank program.

At the May meeting, Kennard suggested turning over the overlook properties to the county commissioners with the department’s plans for possible hiking trails in that area.

Hobbs said in May that the land was deed to parks and rec to prevent county officials from having control of it, according to meeting minutes.

Contract closed?

Brown asked if the logging company had turned any claims into its insurance. The contract between parks and rec and the logging company states the logging company has a $1 million liability insurance policy and agrees to hold parks and rec “harmless for any injuries or damage incurred or caused by the timber harvest.”

“I have no idea where that is at,” Shields said.

At the May 22 parks meeting, Shields said he received an email from the logging company asking for an “unencumbered release” of the contract. “I asked the logging company to forward that on to the commissioners and I have not heard anything back from that,” he said.

“The difference between me saying ‘Here’s what I’d like to do’ and ‘Here’s what I’m going to do’ are two different things. There are certain things I’d like to do, but I might not have the freedom to be able to do those. At this point, I hate to say it, but I’m almost at the mercy the same as you all are in terms of what can and cannot be done,” Shields said.

Hobbs said the board will not close out the contract with the logging company until they finish regrading and reseeding the access trail.

Resident Paul Navarro asked if the board would guarantee they would not close out the contract even if they are encouraged to do so by lawyers.

“I think that would be without reason we could do that … I drive by twice a day. I don’t want to see that issue unresolved,” Kennard said.

“We’re not proud of it,” Hahn added. He said the goal is to rectify the situation “to satisfy the people.”

“Pretend you all live on Shilo Morning Lake and this is your lake. What can you do about this? That’s all we’re asking,” Brown said.

“We had a great lake that’s not great anymore because of this action. Just go on the offense, quit playing defense and hiding behind attorneys. Do what’s right.”