Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge and Management Area Comprehensive Conservation Plan

Work on Final CCP Under Way
Next Steps
The Refuge
For More Information

Work on Final CCP Under Way

The Final Comprehensive Conservaton Plan and Environmental Assessment (Draft CCP/EA) is in progress. The Draft CCP/EA was released for public review in October 2007 and the comment period closed on November 30. In addition to inviting written comments on the plan, Refuge staff hosted an open house on November 7, 2007, at the Sugar Ridge State Fish and Wildlife Area Headquarters in Winslow, Indiana.

Next Steps

Refuge staff and regional planners are reviewing the comments received on the Draft CCP and revising the document. The Final CCP is expected in early 2008.

Highlights of the Proposed Management Direction

The Draft CCP/EA proposes to increase the levels of both habitat management and visitor services from current levels. Highlights of the proposed plan include:

• Over the next 15 years, Refuge staff would maintain existing bottomland forest, of which 3,056 acres are presently acquired. As land with suitable soil is acquired, if it is outside of areas managed as non-forested habitat, it would be reforested to bottomland hardwoods. In the long-term (100 to 200 years) the Refuge would expand bottomland hardwood forests to between 12,000 and 13,000 acres.
• Within 5 years of the CCP being approved, staff would begin pursuing studies to evaluate stream channel restoration options for the Patoka River and its tributaries. This could include restoring sections of channelized stream to meandering stream.
• Refuge staff would work with partners to improve water quality within the Patoka River and its tributaries and move toward compliance with Indiana Department of Environmental Management standards.
• Depending on future land acquisition, up to 1,000 acres of bottomland farmland would be maintained over the life of the plan as stopover habitat for migratory waterbirds.
• Refuge staff would implement a variety of wildlife monitoring programs.
• Staff would focus on creating or maintaining diverse, self-sustaining fisheries in Refuge lakes, ponds and streams, primarily through water quality improvements in the watershed.
• Directional signing would be improved for visitors and new entrance signs and kiosks would be placed at existing boat ramps, Snakey Point, and along Highway 57.
• The Refuge would remain open for fishing in accordance with State seasons and regulations and the Refuge Hunting and Fishing Plan.
• Refuge staff would work to establish a formal Friends group.

The Refuge

Established in 1994, the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge and Management Area is located in Pike and Gibson counties in southwestern Indiana. The Refuge includes wetlands and floodplain forest along the Patoka River corridor and has an authorized boundary of 6,970 acres. The Management Area has an authorized boundary of 15,847 acres. The separate designations avoid legal conflicts with the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.

The area provides some of the most significant remnant bottomland hardwood wetlands in all of Indiana. In all there are more than 380 species of wildlife on the Refuge, including the federally-listed endangered Indiana bat, and more than 50 species listed as conservation priorities in the Indiana Comprehensive Wildlife Strategy.

For More Information

For more information on Refuge planning, please e-mail us, write to us, or call the Refuge at 812/749-3199. People with hearing disabilities are invited to call the TTY line at: 1-800-877-8339 (Federal Relay).

The Refuge's address is:
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Patoka River NWR and Management Area
510 1/2 West Morton Street
P.O. Box 217
Oakland City, IN 47660

Last updated: August 15, 2008

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