Field Notes: A Forest Legacy

~by Jim Eagleman

The later fall of the year hurries my thinking: “Is there enough wood cut for the woodstove? Will my log splitter need a tuneup, more hydraulic fluid and winterizing before the last job? Can I finally tackle the job to cut back and treat the alien multiflora rose and autumn olive that has grown profusely along our road?” And the annual maintenance of chimney cleaning has to be done before the first fire of the season.

These and other pressing jobs I am facing have a common connection to wood. And it might not surprise you that I live in a log home, read forestry books, and admire well-made wooden furniture passed down by relatives.

I like wood and will always cherish these Brown County woods with their year ’round beauty and purpose.

Eric Sloane’s book, A Reverence for Wood, relates our historic reliance on wood during this country’s early start. The early American explorers were impressed with the availability of woods of all kinds. Wood was what was plentiful, grew to great heights, and could produce food, tools, shelter, and fuel.

Homesteading colonists willingly offered their tall pines so as to appease England’s king, a gesture to keep them in good favor. Forests in eastern and northern America were cut first for the tall masts that were used in a royal navy—the pine in high demand. Massive oak beams and walnut flooring also found their way into homes of Great Britain’s elite. Our storehouse of timber appeared inexhaustible and well worth time and expense to ship back to England.

Our own county’s extensive woodlands have an equally important story to tell. While stretching to both horizons, appearing old and undisturbed, this young forest hints of earlier use, and abuse. Starting in the early 1800s, tremendous quantities of timber were removed from these hills in favor of farming.

Prior to settlement, General Land Office surveyors traveled through southern Indiana to map lands for sale. From these records we know today’s forest consists of the same kinds of timber that grew here earlier. Oaks, hickories, maple, and beech, along with sassafras, elm, and sycamore were listed in daily forest inventories.

Boundaries were marked with a blaze to determine a corner. “Witness trees,” young growth purposely chosen, delineated one parcel from another as big trees were the first cut. Log heaps burned for weeks as hillsides were cleared, owing to one historical note of the “smoky” Brown County hills. In deep ravines, green timber dried on top as dead limbs and branches kept fires burning. Timber crews for hire came through southern Indiana from northern Michigan as work there lessened.

Once cleared, the trees were used for railroad ties called sleepers, and fuel. Crops were planted on hillsides in and around tree stumps, up and down slopes, and plowed on the contour. The stage was set for erosion on hills of poor soil. An unproductive, then destitute life followed for those who stayed.

Yet young sprouts and shrubs soon covered many abandoned acres, a resilient and recovering capacity of lands left on their own. Nearly all of Brown County State Park, Indiana’s largest, remained in this early brush stage, a perfect place to begin restoring and eventually releasing native birds and animals. Private lands willingly sold to the state. Game farms were established as part of the early Indiana Department of Conservation’s attempt to replenish wildlife that had over time been extirpated.

In the early 1920s, game birds of grouse, quail, and Hungarian partridge were reared in pens on what is now the large playing field by the park’s fire tower. Sportsmen’s dollars and early experiments with this new type of restoration helped return diminished species, but over time habitat improvement proved to be the key to healthy populations, not simply the release of the animals.

A group of painters descended into Nashville to paint a “peaceful valley,” and another chapter of our county history began—an art colony with a wooded hills backdrop.

Remaining park timber in the mid-1930s was next utilized by company #1557 of the Indiana Civilian Conservation Corps. Young men out of work, learning on site, used oak for beams and hickory flooring, along with native sandstone for park structures like the upper and lower shelters, saddle barn, and portions of the Abe Martin Lodge.

Local craftsmen taught the young CCC men skills they could use in construction, plumbing, carpentry, and electricals. Lessons learned for later life took place in park barracks and tents. Many went on to rejuvenate a recovering nation.

I have no way of knowing if any of those young men furthered their experiences with

wood and forests. They certainly had plenty of opportunity to learn by living in a forest surrounded by nature and rising at dawn. Maybe they were too busy to appreciate it.

An “army-life” existence is how one CCC recruit put it. “But I loved the rugged lifestyle,” he said, “The disciplined routine and the construction trades I learned helped me get a job”.

My love of wood, forest studies, and cultural use has been life-long. When I received a basswood whistle from my grandpa he made from a twig dragged out from firewood kindling, I was transfixed. Since that early experience, wood’s many uses such as building material, tools, furniture, and art have intrigued me.

I can’t admire the wood I use fully unless I know a bit about where it came from. It connects me to the resource and to the land.

Questions or comments regarding Field Notes articles, contact the author at: jpeagleman@gmail.com