First in an occasional series on the Jefferson Proving Ground
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If you visit Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge this year you should follow the naturalist's adage to take only pictures and leave only footprints. You should also watch your step.
Indiana's largest preserve is laden with unexploded ordnance (UXO) - a vestige of four decades' use as the Jefferson Proving Ground (JPG), where the U.S. Army test-fired a variety of bombs, grenades and shells.
Rather than turning swords into plowshares, the conversion of the former military base into a wildlife refuge is what Big Oaks Manager Joe Robb calls "Bombs to Birds."
"It's a deceptively pretty place," he says. "Visitors forget about those hidden dangers."
Comprising 50,000 acres - nearly half of which is off-limits to the public due to UXO - Big Oaks straddles Jefferson, Ripley and Jennings counties in southeastern Indiana. In the triangle formed by the cities of Vernon, Versailles and Madison, the Refuge forms an explosive "green" wedge in the center.
"The irony of JPG is that the munitions testing that occurred there limited development of most of the property. As a result the natural habitats present before the land was settled have reestablished themselves and made JPG one of the most biologically diverse landscapes in the lower Midwest," says Tim Maloney, executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council.
HEC and the Madison-based Save the Valley environmental group were at the forefront of those calling for the establishment of the refuge. In June 2000, the proving ground became a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "overlay" national refuge, meaning that the USFWS manages wildlife resources for the U.S. Army over the life of a 25-year real estate permit.
There were plenty of good reasons to make the site a refuge. Citing the American Bird Conservancy, Robb calls it "a globally important bird area." Osprey, bald eagle, blue heron and the state endangered large Henslow's sparrow are just a few of the more than 200 species of birds - some rare or endangered - that dwell there.
The varied bird population coexists with 39 mammal species, seven bat species, 24 amphibian species, 18 reptile species, eight freshwater mussel species and 41 fish species. The North American Butterfly Association has counted more than 40 species each year the past several years.
Two new state endangered species were recently found, according to Robb: a crawfish frog and a four-toed salamander. And while working in one of the many caves on the site (all off-limits to the public) Robb found several species that are new to science.
Big Oaks also contains one of the largest segments of unbroken forest canopy in Indiana, and its wetlands, marsh and savannah grasslands have all benefited from the absence of human contact.
Natural beauty isn't the only impetus for the area's preservation; safety is another consideration. The U.S. Army is obliged to minimize risk of exposure to unexploded ordnance.
Some of that UXO has a unique quality: it contains depleted uranium (DU). A waste byproduct of the uranium enrichment process, DU has been used in weaponry over the past 30 years because of its ability to penetrate armor. Depleted or not, it has a half-life of 4 million years and is recognized for its adverse health effects on the kidneys, lungs and urinary tract.
While the Army maintains there is no danger from exposure to DU at Big Oaks, it is required to keep one section of the refuge closed to the public and monitor environmental effects as part of its DU license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
An estimated 77 tons of DU munitions litter a 1,300-acre portion of Big Oaks. The Army places the cost of removing it and all other munitions at the site at between $45 million and $1.6 billion. Given the Department of Defense's most recent interest in further exempting itself from compliance with a host of environmental regulations, remediation at Big Oaks isn't likely to happen any time soon. A wildlife refuge at JPG addresses the Army's interests as well as the public's.
During the mid-April to Mid-November season nearly 5,000 acres are open to public access on a typical day. Last year, 20,000 users from 20 different states visited Big Oaks.
Each visitor must sign an "Acknowledgement of Danger" form and watch a 20-minute safety video before receiving a formal pass to enter a specific area of the refuge. You must carry in your own water since no safe drinking source exists on site. You should also carry a cell phone in case you have trouble. Just don't pull off to the side of the road to use it. The USFWS recommends standing on a paved surface to avoid detonating UXO with your phone's radio waves.
And since the Indiana Air National Guard still uses a range surrounded by the refuge for air-to-ground bombing and strafing practice, you might want to keep an eye out for falling aircraft. In the words of the Acknowledgment of Danger form, "[Big Oaks] contains the danger of property damage and permanent painful disabling and disfiguring injury or death."
So, why would you want to risk life and limb to visit Big Oaks? Because its location in the natural region called the "Muscatatuck Regional Slope" is some of the most unique landscape in the entire state.
"Some of it is true sanctuary," Joe Robb says. "It's large enough where you can have ecological processes that don't happen with human interference."
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service calls Big Oaks a place "where Nature has been given a second chance."
"There are bombs out there, sure, but the place is very clean," Robb says. "There are no pop cans, no trash, no cigarette butts - you know, the things humans leave around."
But those "other" things humans leave around - such as bombs laden with radioactive material - are troubling to many people, including some members of Congress.
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) has introduced HR 1483, The Depleted Uranium Munitions Study Act of 2003, which would require studies on the health and environmental impact of DU munitions as well as mandate cleanup and mitigation of DU contamination at sites like JPG and Vieques, Puerto Rico.
"We haven't gotten much movement on it," admits Rep. Julia Carson (D-Ind.), a co-sponsor of the bill. She doesn't think many of her colleagues want to accept responsibility for the effects of DU exposure. "If they accept responsibility then they've got to pay for it, and I don't think they're willing to pay for it," she says.
In the meantime, though, if you're willing to pay a small fee, you can visit Big Oaks and walk close to the most pristine part of Indiana you'll probably never get to see.
Thomas P. Healy is an Indianapolis-based freelance writer and publisher of Branches magazine.
source: http://www.bloomingtonalternative.com/subscribers/news.php?topicid=290 23jun03
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