DU over the last three years has acquired 16 properties
totaling 2,140 acres at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Patoka River
National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Indiana. The new land was purchased with
part of a $1 million North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant in 2014.
Adding these properties into the public trust as part of the refuge is a great
conservation success for DU and its conservation partners. Permanently
protecting this land helps ensure its availability and management for migrating
and wintering waterfowl. As migration and weather patterns change, a slow
trending of waterfowl wintering further north requires conservation not only
migration but also important wintering habitat in southern Indiana. So far the
Fish and Wildlife Service and DU have permanently protected more than 4,500
acres of wetland and upland habitat at Patoka River and have restored an
additional 1,300 acres of wetland and upland habitat.