The Hoosier National Forest

The Hoosier National Forest. Then and Now. This area has been inhabited continuously by humans for 12,000 years, American Indians hunted and camped here. Later, they settled in villages and cultivated native crops., Then the settlers came, clearing and burning the land, In 1899 Indiana led the nation in lumber production. By 1910 southern Indiana's hills were largely bare of trees. The residual land was burned to clear the brush., Population in south-central Indiana peaked in 1890 and then, as the marginal hill country failed to produce marketable crops, people moved on. By 1930, after 100 years of wear on land not suitable for farming, the soil was depleted of nutrients., The Great Depression saw an exodus of small farmers, most of whom just abandoned their tax delinquent, eroding farms and homes. In 1934, the Indiana State legislature asked the U.S. Government to acquire land creating a national forest. The first priorities of the Forest Service were to stabilize erosion, rehabilitate the damaged land, plant trees, and control wildfires., Over 75 years later, your Hoosier National Forest is now productive land that we can all enjoy., Captions (clockwise from top right) , . Oak and hickory seedings are the hardiest of southern Indiana trees and withstood fire, grazing and clearing to reforest hillsides. , . Works Progress Administration (WPA) crew planting pine in 1940 on the Hosier. , . The Dutch Ridge Fire Tower stands in a new pine plantation in 1947. , . Loggers working in southern Indiana in October 1943. , . Oxen skidding logs near Bryantsville, Indiana in 1937. , . Area near Maumee on the Hoosier NF in 1937. Note all the fields and open land. , . The same area in 2013, much of it is national forest. Notice the difference in forest cover.