What we know: What's next for logging of Yellowwood Forest and $150K offer to preserve it

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources sold the rights last Thursday to log on nearly 300 acres in Yellowwood State Forest as nearly 200 protesters looked on, calling on the state to save the trees.

The highest bidder: Hamilton Logging, Inc. out of Martinsville with a bid of roughly $109,000.

Although the timber sale is complete, there are still many questions about what this means going forward and how opponents are still trying to intervene before the first tree falls.

Here's what we know about the timber sale and the efforts to stop it.

What happened at the timber sale on Thursday?

On Thursday, the state's DNR sold the rights to log 1,733 trees across roughly 300 acres in the backcountry area of Yellowwood State Forest. The winning bid was to Hamilton Logging, Inc. for $108,785 — three other bids were submitted with the lowest bid coming in at $70,160.

Nearly 200 protesters attended the sale, many with posters and various signs, calling on Gov. Eric Holcomb to stop the sale and preserve this section of the forest. Also during the protest, Daniel Antes, founder of Distinctive Hardwood Floors in Brown County made an offer on behalf of Bobby R. Bartlet.

Bartlet, president of hardwood furniture company Castlewood in Tell City, was willing to pay the DNR $150,000 not to cut down the trees, but to preserve them for 100 years.

Why couldn't the offer be considered?

Bartlet is not a licensed timber buyer, so his offer was outside the sale and could not be considered as part of the bidding process.

According to state rules, only licensed timber buyers are permitted to bid on timber sales. The Licensed Timber Buyer Law requires all buyers and their agents to be licensed with the DNR's forestry division — a license costs $150 and the licensed buyer must also be bonded.

While the DNR has not commented on the $150,000 offer, those familiar with the process said that the state would have had to stop the sale to consider or accept the offer.

Who won the bid?

Hamilton Logging, Inc. entered the winning bid on Thursday, beating out three other logging companies who submitted competing bids. The company was started in 1996 by Bobby Hamilton and is based out of Martinsville. The company is a third-generation logging business with roots going back to the 1950s. According to the company's site, Hamilton Logging has two separate logging crews with a total of 15 professional, contract labor loggers.

The company also has a trucking branch, which it started in 2008 to help get logs from the job site to the log yard or sawmill. Called Hamilton Trucking LLC, it has six semi trucks and seven log trailers.

What efforts have there been against the proposed logging in Yellowwood?

The protest of Thursday's timber sale was the latest in a string of efforts by those opposed to the sale, including Bartlet's $150,000 offer. A week before the sale, Leslie Bishop — a retired biologist and Brown County resident — delivered a letter signed by 228 scientists from across Indiana pleading with Gov. Eric Holcomb to intervene in the timber sale.

Among their reasons, the scientists said this is one of the oldest forested areas in the state that provides a home to many unique species that require such old and dense forest conditions. The backcountry area also offers a point of scientific study and comparison, which the Indiana Forest Alliance was working on with a project called the Ecoblitz in some of the areas set to be logged.

What are opponents to the sale working on next?

Antes said the $150,000 offer to preserve the forest is still on the table. He and Bartlet are working to set up a meeting with Holcomb to see if he can negate the contract with Hamilton Logging, Inc. and accept the offer.

The pair are not currently considering fronting the offer to Hamilton Logging, because that arrangement would not preclude the DNR from selling the timber to another buyer thereafter. Timber sales stipulate that all marked trees must be removed by a certain date, after which point the company's rights to log will expire. Antes added that he and Bartlet hope to have the sale and contract called off by the state.

Still, Forest Alliance Executive Director Jeff Stant reached out to Hamilton Logging, Inc. on Friday and left a message to try to "open the dialogue."

If those efforts are unsuccessful, then what?

Hamilton Logging has 14 days before it is required to pay 10 percent of its bid, according to the timber sale procedure. It is up to the timber company on when to begin the logging work, but per the contract, the trees must be removed by March.

It is unclear what role DNR still has, if any in the process; the agency has not returned IndyStar's request for comment.

What are the details of the sale?

The 1,733 trees to be logged — which primarily include poplar, ash, oaks and sugar maple — amount to 447,644 board feet of timber, according to the sale notice. The winning bid works out to about around $68 per tree, or 24 cents per board foot.

According to a recent DNR analysis of timber prices, some species set to be logged could fetch as much as a dollar per board foot on the market.

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Sarah Bowman and Emily Hopkins cover the environment for IndyStar. Call IndyStar reporter Sarah Bowman at (317) 444-6129. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook: @IndyStarSarah. Contact Emily at (317) 444-6409 or emily.hopkins@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter: @_thetextfiles.

IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.

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