BATS MAY DETERMINE START OF HORSESHOE LAKE TREE REMOVAL

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Indiana bats may determine when dead trees, killed by the 1993 flood, can be removed from the Horseshoe Lake Conservation Area.

The Illinois Department of Conservation has approved an amended plan for reforestation of the Horseshoe Lake area in Alexander County, and will soon start taking bids for the timber, which includes oak and hickory.

Before any tree is felled by the lumberman's ax, an extensive survey will be conducted in the 360-acre tract to determine if any Indiana bats, an endangered species, is in the area.

"We have to wait until mid-April to conduct the survey," said Gary Stratton, regional administrator for the conservation department's Division of Forest Resources. "The bats hibernate during the winter and won't be out before next month."

If the nocturnal, mouselike, mammal is found in the area, loggers will be prohibited from harvesting trees from May 1 through Aug. 31, while the bats are nesting and raising their young, Stratton said.

The original timber harvest plan proposed by the conservation department, has been changed so the acreage to be harvested will be offered in three separate tracts.

The department, Stratton said, feels that the smaller tracts will be more affordable for local bidders.

Dividing the project into smaller sections may also allow researchers to use one section to study different methods of forest restoration.

Stratton said input from universities and various conservation groups, including the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will be sought.

Floodwaters killed up to 70 percent of the trees in the 360-acre site, just south of the Horseshoe Lake spillway.

Most of the trees were oak and hickory, which provide acorns and nuts to help feed wildlife, Stratton said.

Members of some environmental groups attended last month's public hearing, held at the Community Building in Olive Branch. The environmentalists oppose the removal of the dead trees, saying they are concerned that logging equipment will damage the wetlands.

Environmental groups also say the dead trees should be allowed to fall down and rot, to provide nutrients to the soil. The environmentalists also oppose clearing the underbrush with herbicides.

The Illinois Department of Conservation, meanwhile, contends that reforestation is necessary.

The 1993 flood inundated large areas of Horseshoe Lake for extensive periods of time, killing and damaging a number of trees.

"This leaves large holes in the canopy," he said, adding that it has allowed the sunshine in, and thousands of black willows and cottonwoods have sprouted in the area.

The conservation department has proposed to harvest the dead trees, and with the money from the timber sales, to restore the area with oak and hickory trees.

Stratton said unless something is done, the Horseshoe Lake bottomland will be changed from oak and hickory to black willow and cottonwood, which is "much less desirable from a wildlife habitat standpoint."

The department proposes replanting with trees, not seeds, said Rich Whitten, waterfowl biologist for the Illinois Department of Conservation.

The conservation department will use seedlings pencil size and larger to reforest the area, Whitten said.

"Within 20 to 30 years we'll have another good crop of hardwoods trees there," he said.

Whitten and Stratton agree that time is a big factor for the reforestation project.

"The dead trees have already been standing through two winters and one summer," Stratton said. "Another six months and the trees will start falling and will devalue their worth to the lumber industry."

Ideally, conservationists said, the trees should have been removed a year ago.

"The longer we wait, the more deterioration will occur," Stratton said, adding that with good weather, the trees could be removed in four to five months, once the work gets under way.