An Ocean of timber: the Navy forest - Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana

All Hands, April, 2002 by Saul Ingle

The foresters who are responsible for the protection of the natural resources of Crane survey the ruts that a local company left after they harvested an area of timber. The company will have to come back and grade over the damaged land or they will pay a stiff fine.

* Steel claws are connected to a pair of Belgium horses that drag the logs out of the forest to a nearby road. Logs are then loaded on a truck and delivered to a factory for milling.

* The trees to be harvested are marked with either a red "X" or a red dot. The trees with the "X" have been identified as being weak or unhealthy and will be cut down by the foresters even if the loggers don't take them. This makes room in the forest for the healthy, growing trees.

Amy Ferchak, a native of Avoga, Ind demonstrates humane snare traps, which do not harm trapped animals. The researchers check the traps daily for any signs of bobcat activity.

Many big companies also harvest timber

inside the gates of Crane, but only in areas that would be able to recover from the damage large machinery causes.

* Trent Osmon, a forester at NSWC Crane, holds a bobcat that was trapped by the Indiana Department of Agriculture. The cats are tranquilized and given a physical, then tagged and released.

* Wildlife Technician Amy Ferchak sometimes has to stand on the hood of her pick-up truck to take readings from homing signals placed on the collars of some bobcats. Ferchak and her team from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Fish and Wildlife Division are studying ways to increase the population of bobcats in the Crane area.

* The Belgian horses used by the Amish are very similar in appearance to Clydesdales, but they are much harder workers according to one Amish logger.

* Constitution Grove is an area of Crane set aside for the oldest ship in the Navy -- USS Constitution.

Ingle is a former All Hands photojournalist now assigned to the Blue Angels.