Talk discussing “Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape Program Presented By Big Oaks Refuge

This event will be held at Ivy Tech Madison

On Monday, May 1st, the Big Oaks Conservation Society will host a meeting at Ivy Tech in Madison, Indiana starting at 6:30 PM.  Michael Spalding will discuss the new Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape. The Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape program works with partnering organizations and landowners to find conservation solutions that support rural working landscapes, conserve our natural resources, and ensure the long term sustainability of our military installations. The public is invited to attend this free presentation.  

Michael is the Program Coordinator for the Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape and works for the Conservation Law Center in Bloomington. The 8^th generation of his family to call Indiana home, he grew up in rural Shelby County and received a BS in Forestry from Purdue in 2005. He has spent the past 17 years performing conservation work in 55 counties in Indiana on both public and private lands. He resides in Brown County with his wife, who is also a forester, and two sons, where they enjoy making maple syrup from their forest. Also of note to this location, hunting turkey and deer are two other passions of Michael’s, and he harvested his first two turkeys in Switzerland and Jefferson Counties. 

The Big Oaks Conservation Society is the non-profit support group of the Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge (NWR).  Society members work closely with refuge staff to enhance public awareness, use, and appreciation for the natural and cultural assets unique to Big Oaks NWR.  Meetings are held the first Monday of selected months at 6:30 p.m.  Big Oaks NWR consists of approximately 50,000 acres on the former Jefferson Proving Ground (JPG) located in Jennings, Ripley, and Jefferson Counties in southeastern Indiana.  The refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and provides public use opportunities such as hunting, fishing, wildlife observation and photography, interpretation, and environmental education.  The refuge has one of the largest contiguous forest blocks in the southeastern part of the state as well as one of the largest grassland complexes in the state, both of which provide wonderful wildlife viewing opportunities to refuge visitors.  

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 150-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses more than 550 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 63 Fish and Wildlife Management offices, and 81 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 Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.