A comeback is brewing for Indiana’s Hoosier National Forest — with a little help from fire

Forest officials in southern Indiana have proposed a project to bring back the Hoosier National Forest’s rarest woods: open oak woodlands that once thrived on regular, low-intensity burns. The Sigler Creek plan would use carefully planned prescribed fire, tree planting and stream fixes to create more young-forest habitat — the kind that’s in short supply but that pollinators, wood thrushes, red-headed woodpeckers, bats and even the eastern box turtle all depend on. The proposal is open for public comment for 30 days, so locals get a say in how their forest grows.