It’s public property, but you won’t find it marked on most maps.
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Did you know that Daviess County has a Federal Wildlife Refuge? It’s public property, but you won’t find it marked on most maps. The 300 acres of timber offers a very safe retreat for the waterfowl, deer, and other forest creatures, but no opportunities for public use — for good reason.
The refuge is located in east Marion Township, southwest of Jameson where South Big Creek on the north side enters into the Grand River on the west side.
According to Ron Bell, Refuge Manager at Squaw Creek, the US Fish and Wildlife Service came about the land the long way. It started with individual owners who lost land back to the Farm and Home Administration through the 1980s.
Platt maps first show the land belonging to FHA in 1991.
“The arrangement was between FHA and the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture at the national level,” said Mr. Bell. “This property was deeded over by FHA to the Department of the Interior.”
About that time, Mr. Bell said, refuge managers were mandated by the federal government to look over their properties. The local refuge management district owned a number of properties scattered over a 21-county area.
They were looking for two things: if the land had wetlands with hydric soils and if they had large easements — land unsuited for farming. There were three properties in the district like that, one in Daviess County. (U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife has easements on nine other properties in Daviess County; most of those are small properties owned by the individuals.)
The refuge land shows up on the Platt map as belonging to the US Fish and Wildlife, a division of the Department of the Interior in 1998.
The land has 1 ½ miles of river frontage. It does not have a roadway access. The refuge employees had to have an access easement to get through, which the adjascent landowner authorized. They put on gravel and built up a culvert to get to the area.
“The land is considered a closed area,” said Mr. Bell, whose office is in Mound City. “It is removed and isolated. It’s a couple hour drive for someone to go down and monitor it. If we left it wide open, the wildlife would be gone. We can’t manage the public on it.”
Mr. Bell points out that even in large wildlife refuges such as Squaw Creek, only certain areas are accessible to the public. And when the public are allowed in for fishing and special deer hunts, the activities are managed and contained to a specific area.
“Wildlife is the first priority,” said Mr. Bell. “Public use is the secondary objective.”
A comprehensive land management plan is presently being written and should be available this fall. Grassland restoration has been done on the higher ground at the refuge and between 30 to 40 acres of trees have been planted on the lower ground.
Several unusual plants have been found on the tract. People uprooting the plants to transplant in their own gardens is a concern.
“Once open, we have that hazard,” said Mr. Bell. A biologist will figure out exactly what’s on the area.
Small easement signs have been placed on the property. Surveyors will mark the boundaries before permanent signs are put up.
“The signs will be small to not attract attention,” said Mr. Bell. “The more visible, the more we have a trespass problem.”