October 26, 2004

Workshop to explore forest conservation on private lands

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University has organized a Nov. 10 workshop in Nashville, Ind., that will bring together legal experts and forestry and natural resources specialists to explore new strategies to help individual landowners work together to protect Indiana's forests.

Management and conservation of Indiana's forests can be a thorny issue, complicated by the fact that almost 90 percent of the state's forested land is privately owned. The workshop's aim is to start developing new legal structures to help landowners who want to maintain control over their own property, yet wish to work together to manage the forested landscape as a larger unit, said Bill Hoover, chair of the Forest Land Conservation: An Indiana Portfolio workshop.

"This is a relatively new area of interest in Indiana," said Hoover, who is a professor of forestry and natural resources. "We're looking at the process by which laws can adjust to meet changing social needs, like improving the conservation of ecosystems beyond what the public is willing to pay for through state agencies. It's about getting individuals to work together to protect forestland."

Speakers at the workshop, which is open to the public, will discuss alternatives to the conventional arrangements of zoning, land purchase and conservation easements. Some of those alternatives include landowner cooperatives, conservancy districts, collaborative groups and common interest developments.

The emphasis in each of these structures is to include landowners in a group decision-making process that still maintains individual property rights, said Shorna Broussard, assistant professor of forestry and natural resources and a workshop speaker.

"A lot of people are concerned that their property rights will be eroded if they decide to work with neighboring landowners to manage forest for turkey, or habitat or other features," she said. "But that's not what we're advocating. We are talking about institutional arrangements that allow for some type of cooperative decision making that still retains those property rights with the landowners."

The workshop, which runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Brown County Inn, is sponsored by Purdue's Department of Forestry and Natural Resources; the Indiana University Center for the Study of Institutions, Populations and Environmental Change; Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry; and the Indiana Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

Workshop registration fees are $50 for a basic registration or $25 for students. Registration information can be downloaded or is available from Karen Schneider at Purdue by calling (765) 494-3583. The registration deadline is noon on Nov. 8. Registration may be phone-in with payment made at the door on Nov. 10.

Writer: Jennifer Cutraro, (765) 496-2050, jcutraro@purdue.edu

Sources: William Hoover, (765) 494-3580, whoover@Purdue.edu

Shorna Broussard, (765) 494-3603, broussar@purdue.edu

Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722; Beth Forbes, forbes@purdue.edu
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