Jefferson Proving Ground was recognized by the American Bird Conservancy because of JPGs importance to Henslows sparrows. Like many grassland-dependent birds across the nation, the Henslow has suffered drastic population declines. Loss of its grassland nesting habitat has reduced Henslow numbers by an estimated 8 percent each year over the past three decades. In its designation, the American Bird Conservancy noted that JPG provides breeding habitat for one of the five largest remaining Henslows sparrow populations in the world, about 751 breeding pairs.
"We continue to marvel at the wonderful resources that are part of Jefferson Proving Ground," said William Hartwig, Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "This designation by the American Bird Conservancy is a testament to JPGs increasing prominence as one of the Midwests most valuable areas for birds. And it is especially meaningful in an area of the country that has lost so much wildlife habitat."
I know the community recognizes the significance of what they have and supports an interest in maintaining this valuable resource, said Major General Edward L. Andrews, Commanding General, U.S. Army, Test and Evaluation Commander. This designation is further confirmation of the rich natural resources at Jefferson Proving Ground.
Jefferson Proving Ground was an active ordnance testing site for the Army from the early 1940s until 1995. Since then, 4,000 acres at the south end of the area have been turned over to industrial and commercial uses. However, portions of the remaining 51,000 acres, which remain Army property, is off limits to most uses due to danger from unexploded ordnance. Under a 1997 Memorandum of Agreement which continues until October 1999, the Service is assisting the Army in managing the vast natural resources on this portion of JPG.
Although a seemingly unlikely spot for wildlife, Jefferson Proving Ground is an oasis of habitat amid the regions farmlands and urban areas. The Armys testing practices actually promoted creation of wildlife habitat on much of the property. Some procedures periodically set fires to large open areas. Here, burns mimicked the natural fires that once maintained the open prairies of the Midwest. It is in these accidental prairies on JPG that the Henslows sparrow has found needed grassland nesting habitat.
In addition to the valuable grasslands within JPGs boundaries, the area includes 11,000 acres of forest, the largest continuous forest block in southeastern Indiana, and one of the largest in the Lower Midwest region of the United States. Large, unfragmented areas of forest are important to forest interior songbirds, which cannot thrive in smaller, scattered patches of forest. For many neotropical migrant songbirds (those that winter in Central and South America), JPGs forests provide the only productive breeding habitat in the region. Woodlands at JPG are also an important stronghold for the Federally endangered Indiana bat.
The American Bird Conservancy is a U.S.-based, not-for-profit organization that promotes conservation of wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. The organization identifies and recognizes Important Bird Areas and fosters cooperative efforts among scientists, birdwatchers, public agencies, industries, non-governmental organizations, and educators. The American Bird Conservancy also participates in the Partners in Flight program, an international effort to conserve songbirds, and supports management and research for bird conservation.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
