Message from Stewardship Program

The forest landowners of Indiana are vitally important to the long term health and productivity of Indiana's forests. Their forests provide countless benefits to the people of Indiana. Together they own 85% (3.65 million acres) of the state's forests resources and help fuel an estimated 4 billion-dollar forest products industry.

Their forests are under increasing pressure to produce consumptive goods, provide clean water, housing sites and to make way for expanding populations, infrastructure and commercial development. To insure the long term health and productivity of Indiana's forest landscape, it is essential to retain existing forests, expand forests where possible, and manage them as stewards.

The mission of the Cooperative Forest Management Section of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources is to promote forest stewardship on Indiana's privately owned forest lands by providing forest management information and technical assistance to owners, and others insuring continued forest benefits, both tangible and intangible, for present and future generations.

State Forestland Statistics:

• Total acres in Indiana = 23 million acres
• Total forested acres = 4.5 million acres
• Privately owned forest land = 3.65 million acres
• Industry = Industry owns such a small portion of Indiana's forestland that we do not separate the acreage in our Forest Inventory Analysis.
• Government = 0.85 million acres

Stewardship in Indiana:

• Number of stewardship plans= approximately 10,000
• Acres covered by stewardship plans= 482,258 acres

Links:

• Indiana Division of Forestry
• Purdue University, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
• Purdue Extension
• The Nature Conservancy
• EPA: Global Warming Impacts on Indiana
• The Woodland Steward
• Hoosier National Forest

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