IFA applies research and science to inform forest management decisions. For instance, IFA’s Ecoblitz is the first-ever multi-year species inventory providing a comprehensive picture of the life that exists within four sites in Indiana’s state and national forests. Ecoblitz scientists document biodiversity within the century-old stands that are returning to these public forests. Scientists from 13 Indiana colleges and universities completed IFA’s Ecoblitz in the Yellowwood/Morgan-Monroe Back Country Area and are launching inventories at a second site in the Hoosier National Forest. Additionally, IFA has partnered with stream biologists at the Ecosystems Connections Institute to conduct water quality monitoring that examines the effects of logging on declining populations of the state-endangered Eastern hellbender, the largest salamander in North America.
