More than two months after the cutting of trees on State Road 135 North generated statewide attention, residents are wondering what will happen next.
Commissioner Diana Biddle told the audience at the April 3 commissioners meeting that the county had received a “threat of litigation” and correspondence from legal firms representing local property owners.
According to online court records, no lawsuit has been filed.
In February, logging took place on land owned by Brown County Parks and Recreation, on the opposite side of the highway from the expansive overlook that was cleared last year, at the direction of the parks and recreation department. According to a contract signed between parks and rec and Crowder Hardwood Properties LLC in December, parks and rec received $13,000 for the logging in the valley and across the road at the picnic area above the overlook.
Residents living below the clear cut on Shilo Morning Drive said the logging caused sediment to enter the upper and lower lakes there, turning them into “chocolate milk.”
Allison Shoaf, manager of the Brown County Soil and Water Conservation District, walked the logged site. In March, she said it didn’t appear that sediment from the logged area was leaving the site.
At the March 27 parks and rec board meeting, member Linda Hobbs said the department met with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and that the DNR confirmed what Shoaf had said, that no sediment was leaving the property.
“We can’t say a lot more than that because of potential litigation,” Hobbs said.
Hobbs said the Indiana Department of Environmental Management also visited the site and had not issued any direction to the department at that time.
Shilo Morning Drive property owners Jean and Gary Brown previously said they were reaching out to IDEM in hopes of getting someone out to investigate any damage to the lakes there. The couple could not be reached by deadline for comment on whether or not IDEM had issued any reports to them or not.
What else will be done?
Crowder subcontracted with Patrick Logging of Brown County to do the cut. Parks and rec Director Mark Shields said at the March 27 parks board meeting that the loggers had been up at the site the previous day doing seeding and mitigation. Shoaf had recommended seeding and installing silt fencing and water bars.
At the April 3 commissioners meeting, Biddle said that Crowder also offered to do landscaping after the county is finished building its communication tower, which is going on the hill above the recently logged valley. She said that Crowder also had offered “in casual conversation” to build a bird viewing area near the logged site, similar to what’s in Brown County State Park.
“They seem to be agreeable to helping mitigate some, invest money back into making it look better. Time is the only thing that will make it look better,” she said.
“What’s done is done. I have to drive by it every day. I hate it every time I drive by it, but it is what it is.”
Who had what authority?
County Attorney Jake German said last month that the parks board has the statutory authority to enter into contracts, and the board is not required to get approval from the commissioners beforehand.
“When you have a board that has contracting authority, it’s kind of the government making appointments to that board and they operate in a way that has some autonomy. That autonomy is the statutory ability to contract,” he said.
At the commissioners meeting, resident Paul Navarro asked Biddle if the commissioners had any oversight on what was done at this land. Biddle said the property was specifically deeded to parks and recreation, not the commissioners. Commissioner Jerry Pittman said the only leverage the commissioners have is that they appoint one member to the board.
The county does insure the property.
Biddle said the commissioners does not have a say on other parks and rec projects either, like the skate park set to break ground this month at Deer Run Park. “It’s the same thing. They own the property there (at Deer Run); they own the property at the overlook,” she said.
What does the deed say?
Nearly 160 acres on both sides of State Road 135 North was deeded to parks and rec from the Indiana Department of Transportation in the 1980s.
Earlier this year, trees also began coming down on the top of the hill near where the logging happened to make room for a new emergency communications tower to be built with the support of county government.
The deed states that the grantee — which was parks and rec — “shall follow selective forest management procedures by not clear-cutting the land so that the scenic beauty of the property shall be preserved; and further, that any lands in this deed within 300 feet of the centerline of State Road 135 shall not have any timber removed nor manmade developments placed upon said lands.”
County Attorney Jake German could not be reached for comment on the deed by deadline.
Local attorney Kurt Young said that the deed is “pretty straightforward” when talking about the restrictions. Young previously served as the county’s attorney for several years until 2013. He said he would have to do more research as to what a remedy would be if it was determined the deed was broken.
Parks and rec board President Jim Hahn did not want to comment on the deed.
Are there policies on logging?
Resident Tim Clark asked the commissioners if there was a policy on logging county-owned land.
“If you give them (board members) guidance, then select people that support the guidance you have on the books. Then, hopefully they vote that guidance,” he said.
Biddle said there is no policy on logging currently, but that she believed one would be coming because of what happened here. “I’m sure whatever legal stuff happens in the next couple of months that there will be some language to that effect as an outcome,” she said.
Professional management opportunity?
At the March 27 parks and rec board meeting, Dan Shaver with the Nature Conservancy spoke with the board about placing the nearly 160 acres of the State Road 135 North overlook properties into the conservancy’s Forest Bank program.
“It’s a way for the Nature Conservancy to work with private landowners to manage land,” he said.
“We’re not looking to buy it or purchase it, but we want to help those landowners manage the land correctly, control invasive species, provide for wildlife habitat and help them with all of those functions.”
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. The board would have to approve the plan before it is implemented.
“If there was work done on the property, we would bill you for our services, for doing work up there, whether that was controlling invasive plants, marking the boundary, managing the timber, or whatever it would be,” Shaver said.
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, he said.
Under that agreement, the Nature Conservancy would mark the property boundaries, control invasive plants and manage the timber and wildlife there.
“When we do timber management, it’s not based on the amount of revenue to be generated from the timber sale; it’s based on the ecology of the site,” Shaver said.
“We would write the plan looking at how do we maximize and make the habitat better for those species of plants and animals? Then if a timber sale is a part of that, then we would build that into the process.”
If there is a timber sale during the 30-year agreement, Shaver said it would be a “sustainable timber sale” and that the board would be “advised on what we’re doing, how it’s being done, how everything is being marked.”
Shaver said that there could be areas where there would not be a timber sale, like the overlooks. “They will grow eventually, and could have timber value, but if the plan is to keep them open, they probably would never contribute value into the program. We would still help manage those and keep the invasive species out,” he said.
Any income generated from selling timber would also pay the Nature Conservancy back for work done on the property. “It provides the park (board) with an annual revenue stream from the property up there and it allows the Nature Conservancy to work with you to manage the property,” Shaver said.
In Brown County, the Nature Conservancy has about 2,500 acres already enrolled in the Forest Bank program.
“It allows you guys to focus on what you do best: The parks and recreation. And it gets you a professional organization to help manage the forest land to control those invasive plants, mark boundaries and manage the forest,” Shaver said.
Shaver said most people prefer the 30-year agreement because it is not forever and provides annual income from the forest property. “You don’t have to cut timber today to get that income. You get 3 percent every year. We do a timber appraisal every 10 years on the property, and if the trees have grown, which they do, then the annual payment will go up accordingly,” he said.
The Nature Conservancy is only allowed to work in certain areas under the Forest Bank program. The conservancy has identified priority areas for migratory songbirds and areas where it wants to “keep the forest as big as possible,” Shaver said. The overlook acreage on State Road 135 North falls within the conservancy’s priority area because of its proximity to Freeman Ridge Road, Shaver said.
The parks and rec board did not vote on the proposal right away.
