Nearly a hundred people attended a public meeting Wednesday to voice their opinions on DNR proposals.

The Natural Resources Commission is accepting public comment until March 23 on rule changes that would allow hunting and trapping.

A law approved last year prohibited deer hunters from using rifles on public property.

Indiana now has 284 nature preserves covering more than 50,000 acres across the state.

The forest is public property, but the Department of Natural Resources says the area was closed to the public for an ongoing timber harvest.

While the DNR released no official start date for the logging, the agency specifies it must be complete no later than March 31, 2018.

DNR representatives say timber harvest is a tool used to keep the forest healthy by maintaining a balance of old-growth and young-growth trees.

The owls are migrating south from northern Canada during what's called an irruption, which the owls cycle through every four to five years.

According to a Department of Natural Resources representative, there are more than 400 miles of potential trails that could be built.

A deer tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease in Illinois, near the Indiana border, prompting intensified surveillance from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.