Project Benefits
This one project will increase the total statewide acreage of wetlands by 1 percent.
Restoring the area to its natural grandeur and allowing public access will bring a number of environmental and economic benefits:
- Hunters, birders and wildlife watchers will be attracted to the area, bringing their tourism dollars to the community. As the project develops, the local expenditures will grow.
- The project will restore wetland and adjacent upland habitat for waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds and other wetland associated wildlife.
- The area will serve as a filter for water quality and a sponge to slow floodwaters. Wetlands provide many water quality benefits.
(more information on Indiana wetlands)
Goose Pond restoration will expand and complement a complex of wildlife habitat and recreational resources in southwestern Indiana:
- Greene-Sullivan State Forest (7,000 acres along the western border of the project)
- Minnehaha State Fish and Wildlife Area (8,000 acres 10 miles to the northwest)
- Shakamak State Park (2,500 acres 13 miles to the north)
- Turtle Creek Reservoir (2,000 acres 20 miles to the west near the Wabash River)
- West Fork of the White River (six miles south of Goose Pond)
- Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge and Management Area (48 miles south)
For this already productive area to reach its maximum potential, the restoration must be completed. It is also important to note that the area will need to be actively managed to keep habitats in early successional stages and to manipulate water levels to optimize habitats for shorebirds and waterfowl. This active management will apply to 1,300 acres of prairie grassland as well as wetland habitats. The prairie grasslands will continue to benefit grassland birds, which are experiencing rapid population declines. Also, shorebird habitat management is often overlooked in wetland management plans and requires shallow water and mudflats during their long and dangerous migration. Although these management activities could be carried out under private ownership, they could be done much more efficiently and cohesively if the property were publicly owned.
Air Quality
This land will be valuable in the sequestration of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored as carbon in soils, and plants through photosynthesis.
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