Indiana bat habitat at Stonebridge development. - FWS photo

Crooked Creek at Stonebridge development. - FWS photo

With respect to federal activities in Indiana, during the 1st quarter of FY 2007 BFO reviewed 25 Section 404 permits, 31 highway projects, 35 other federal aid projects, 45 cell tower projects (resulting in 4 site-specific letters), 19 coal mining permit actions (including 3 new permits), 2 federal projects, 9 other federal/state/local permit projects and 6 preliminary requests for endangered species information.   We also reviewed 3 FERC hydropower prelminary permits, 1 licensing action and 1 post-licensing action.  This report does not include listing/recovery aspects of the Endangered Species Program, or the Private Lands or Contaminants programs. It also does not include our northern Indiana sub-office.

Highlights of the third quarter project reviews included the following:

Reviewed a 1300 acre residential-gof course development (Stonebridge) south of Indianapolis.   The site contains 900 acres of forest, of which up to 300 acres would be removed, and happens to be adjacent to an Indiana bat capture site and within about 2 miles of a primary nursery roost.   BFO inspected the site on 2 occasions and conducted a fish survey on the central perennial stream, Crooked Creek.  We are currently in informal Section 7  consultation with the Corps of Engineers for the project's 404 permit, and formal consultation will follow.

Ethanol plant construction is going wild in Indiana with several plants already constructed and an unofficial tally that 40 more are in the works.   Most or all of these plants would produce ethanol from corn.  The ethanol industry is expected to have significant impacts on the USDA Conservation Reserve and other farm conservation programs.

BFO (Mike Litwin) attended a meeting of the Indiana Wind Power Working Group.   We learned that wind power development is seriously starting up in Indiana with 2 projects in the works and more expected.   BFO provided all attendees a copy of the Region 3 wind fact sheet and expressed an interest in working with the industry to expedite wind power development by avoiding wildlife problems. 

The I-69 Indianapolis-to-Evansville has experienced another major shift in gears.  The toll road proposal, which has been the option favored by the governor for the last couple of years, is defunct due to intense public opposition.  The newest plan is to again make I-69 a free interstate, but funded by  a new toll road proposal for an outer beltway around the east side of Indianapolis (connecting the new I-69 to the existing one).   This project was one of the early I-69options but has not had any NEPA review in recent years and was not part of the approved I-69 NEPA documents.