Hardwood Forestry Fund approves project proposal

The Hardwood Forestry Fund has awarded funding to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources-Division of Forestry for the Morgan-Monroe project to create an educational site for teaching how to enrich an otherwise degraded stand of unproductive species to producing high quality hardwoods.

Morgan-Monroe State Forest encompasses more than 24,000 acres in Morgan and Monroe counties in south central Indiana. The forest land encompasses many steep ridges and valleys, and is forested with some of the state's finest hardwoods, according to the HFF.

“The site was an old field 60 years ago and had been planted in pine. Through funding and collaboration with the HFF and other partners, the Department of Forestry will plant oak trees, thereby taking a productive site that had been trending toward non valuable hardwood species and changing the future stand quality to oak. This will result in an excellent place to show private landowners how to enrich an otherwise degrade stand to produce high quality hardwoods, the HFF said in a statement.

For more, visit www.in.gov/dnr/forestry.