Forest Report from Indiana, U.S.A.

Written by the students of Cannelton Elementary School

Class or age : 3rd Grade

Name of Forest: Hoosier National Forest
Hoosier National Forest
Hoosier National Forest
Photo : US Forest Service brochure

General information

Visit by Forester
Our forester visitor, Tom Thake, came last Wednesday to talk to our class about the Hoosier National Forest. Here are some of the facts that they remembered:

Size
The Hoosier National Forest covers approximately 200,000 acres. (There is approximately 191 million acres of National Forest across the USA - which is about 1/12 of the total land mass of the USA).

Old Trees
In Indiana, some of the oldest trees still living are the Oak, around 400 years old. (The land had been cleared during Indiana's early years of all her oldest trees)
Tree species in this forest

Trees in this forest are:
Lots of Oaks: Black Oak, White Oak, and Red Oak.
Sassafras, Tulip Poplars, Sycamores, Beach, Ironwood, Dogwood, which are especially beautiful in the early spring (usually mid April) when they bloom,
Redbud, White Pine, Virginia Pine, Eastern Elm, Wild Cherry, Sugar Maple, Silver Maple, Walnut, Hickory, Hackberry, Mulberry, Cottonwood, Persimmon, Honey Locust, Eastern Red Cedar, Basswood, White Ash, and more.
Forest Scene
Forest Scene
Photo : "Southern Indiana ... Naturally" brochure
by University of Southern Indiana

Other plants in this forest

Fall
Fall colours by the Ohio River
Photo : "Hoosier National Forest Guide" brochure
by Perry County Chamber of Commerce

Some of the plants in Hoosier National Forest that you might find are spice bushes, wild phlox, and wildflowers like: butterfly weed, black-eyed Susans, purple cone flower, bloodroot, Indian Paintbrush, and more.

Other plants are:
Mayapples, and poisonous ones like poisonous ivy and nightshade (the berries are especially poisonous)

Fungus like:
mushrooms like puffballs, morels, that you can for sure eat.
Some are poisonous like toadstools.

Terrain
Our forest is mostly located on rolling hills, and we live in the southern most part of Indiana in the Lincoln Hills, named after the 16th president of the USA. He grew up here in southern Indiana not far from here in a place now called Lincoln City.

Climate
Rainfall in the Hoosier National Forest is average about 40 inches in one year.

Seasonal Changes

Fall
Fall colours by the Ohio River
in Indiana, USA
Photo by J. and J. Efinger

October 1996
Fall is beautiful here in Indiana. The photos were taken in Perry County on the banks of the Ohio River in Indiana.

Fall
Perry County, Indiana
Photo by J. and J. Efinger

Life in this forest

Many types of wildlife live in the forest:

Mammals
white-tailed deer, grey squirrels, red squirrels, raccoons, red foxes, coyotes, rabbits, weasels AND chipmunks.
White tailed deer
White tailed deer
Photo : "Southern Indiana ... Naturally" brochure
by University of Southern Indiana

The Hoosier National Forest is also the summer roosting home to the endangered Indiana Bat. The Indiana Bat likes to live under the loose bark of several different kinds of trees in here. In fact, the Indiana Bat is so endangered that the cleanup efforts after a tornado in the Hoosier National Forest by foresters this last Fall was halted because it was feared that this would bother roosting Indiana Bats.
Read more about the Indiana Bat at Cannelton Elementary's Indiana Bat website.

Reptiles
Poisonous snakes like: copperhead, water moccasins, and rattlesnakes, nonpoisonous snakes like black snakes, king snakes, turtles and lizards.
Nocturnal animals
Nocturnal animals like brown bats and a whiporwill (a bird)

Wild Turkey
Wild Turkey
Photo : "Hoosier National Forest Guide" brochure
by Perry County Chamber of Commerce

Birds
All sorts of birds like wild turkeys, bluejays, bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, red-headed woodpeckers, great horned owls, barn owls, brown thrushes, quail, chickadees, robins, cardinals and Eastern Bluebirds.

Fish
There are many lakes in the Hoosier National Forest that contain many types of fish such as: largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, channel catfish, northern pike, walleye, pickerel, and more.

Life in the lakes
Also in or by the lakes you will see bullfrogs, newts, salamanders, and much more.

Insects
There are many kinds of insects to see also, like: ants, tics( they suck your blood and can carry diseases like Lymes Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever), many different butterflies like the Viceroy Butterfly or Monarch Butterfly, grasshoppers, lady bugs and other beetles like horned beetles. There are nocturnal insects like: crickets, moths, lightning bugs (fireflies as they are sometimes called) and other insects like centipedes, millipedes, cicadas (these make lots of noises in the late Fall).
Spiders
There are spiders like garden spiders, blackwidows, recluse, wolf spider, crab spiders, and more, and if we think of more we will send more.

Importance of this forest

Medicines
There are some medicines made from some plants from this forest like from the dandelion or golden seal.

Wood products
Actually there is about a 2 billion dollar industry of products made from forests in this country.
Some of the wood used from the forest are: pine Coniper, Oak, Maple, Ash, Hickory, and Cedar shavings (They don't rot very fast at all), and it is the same with Mulberry and Honey Locust.

Recreation
Camping, hiking, fishing and water sports are popular in our forest.

There are a number of lakes for recreational use : Tipsaw, Celina, Indian and Saddle Lakes and there is also the Cannelton Pool in the Ohio River.
Cannelton Pool fun
Ohio River Cannelton Pool
Photo : "Ohio River Highlands" brochure
by Perry County Chamber of Commerce

Future of this forest

Care of the forest
The forest is kept clean by recreation crews who clear any refuse. There really needs to be more people pitching in though to keep our forests clean.
Logging
If any logging is done, it is usually after an intense analysis of the area to be logged to determine what will happen to the forest and the wildlife, etc. if certain trees are cut down. Some areas are completely off limits to logging. It is very selective.

Literature, Art, Music, Dance and your forest

History and Mythology

There are no real legends about the forest that we know of. If anyone reading this knows of one, Email us please.
13-5-98 Email came from C. Hunter
Around 1875, the daughter of William Hunter, Winnie Hunter, twin sister of Winred Hunter, met Evan Cox, full blooded Indian, on a trail which is now in the Hoosier National Forest close to Calvertville 's Goose Creek.
Winnie Hunter married Evan Cox in an Indian Ceremony and a Baptist ceremony. Evan got his name from "heaven" but he was mighty mean - if anyone made any noise or moved while he talked to God before food was served, he would "strike his knife against any hand that moved."
His ability to move about in the dark silently allowed him to seine fish with a net and spear rabbits and squirrels for food.
"When Balls of Fire rolled across the road in Calvertville, Uncle Ev threw water on them to stop them from rolling," said 86 year old Inez Hunter Ruf, daughter of Winfed Hunter.

This report is also published on the Trees and Forest Pages from Elanora Heights Primary School, Sydney, Australia