An environmental activist group claimed responsibility Thursday for driving spikes into trees in Brown and Monroe counties to ensure they cannot be cut down by timber companies.
State officials discovered earlier this month several 10-inch spikes in trees in a section of the Morgan-Monroe State Forest slated for logging.
The group Earth Liberation Front released a statement Thursday claiming responsibility for the act, and warning people that cutting down the spiked trees is unsafe.
“These spikes have been placed both high and low in the trees to prevent the cutting of trees,” the group said in the statement. “The trees are now worthless to the mill and dangerous to cut down.”
The group said they want to spread the word about the spikes “to prevent injury to any timber workers. . . . It is not our intention to cause harm.”
Department of Natural Resources officials earlier this month found 20 spikes in 17 trees at Morgan-Monroe State Forest.
Indiana forest protection groups have historically rejected tree spiking, a felony in Indiana.
In light of the tree spiking, the buyer of the Morgan-Monroe timber will be given the option of keeping his money and not doing the logging, natural resources spokesman Stephen Sellers said.
But the trees with spikes in them will have to be cut down anyway to avoid future injury.
