Indiana DNR

A 29-year-old bald eagle, one of the original eagles brought to Indiana in the 1980s as part of a restoration program, has been spotted again at Monroe Lake.

Bald eagle C43 is the oldest known wild eagle in Indiana. She arrived in 1988 as a nestling from Whitestone Harbor, Alaska. Biologists brought C43 and 72 other eaglets to Indiana to start the bald eagle restoration program, which released young eagles at Monroe Lake with the hope that they would return to Indiana to nest.

C43 may still be nesting at Monroe Lake, according to Amy Kearns, assistant nongame bird biologist with the DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife. C43 is the number on a leg band that helps scientists and wildlife watchers identify the bird.

“This bird may be one of the top 10 oldest wild bald eagles in the United States, with only seven other banded eagles reported living to 29 years or more,” Kearns said.

The latest sighting was on June 24 at Monroe Lake by Stuart Forsythe, who spotted C43 in the Middle Fork Wildlife Area. Stuart captured photos showing the C43 leg band by using a high-quality camera with a long lens.

Bald eagles were on the state and federal endangered species list when Indiana began its reintroduction program in 1985. By 2016, there were an estimated 250-300 eagle nesting territories in Indiana, with 179 bald eagle nests confirmed active.

SOURCE: Indiana Department of Natural Resources

With the arrival of camping season, visitors to DNR properties should brush up on the DNR firewood rule.

The rule helps protect Indiana’s trees from the 140 known pests and pathogens that currently affect forests as well as pests we don’t know about yet. Several pests and pathogens are transported through firewood movement.

Under the rule, visitors to state parks, reservoirs, state forests and state fish & wildlife areas can bring firewood from home—as long as the bark has been removed. Removing the bark minimizes the risk of accidental infestation through firewood movement, because insect larvae live in sapwood under the bark.

Guests may also bring firewood into DNR properties, if it’s:

• Kiln-dried scrap lumber.
• Purchased outside the property and bears either a USDA compliance stamp or a state compliance stamp.
• Purchased from the property campstore or on-site firewood vendor and has a state compliance stamp.

Regardless of where visitors get their firewood, they should burn it all at the campsite before they leave.

In short, the firewood rule means: “Buy it with a stamp, bring it debarked, burn it all.”

For more about the rule see firewood.dnr.IN.gov.

The 2017 Indiana trout stream season opens this Saturday, April 29, at 6 a.m. local time and runs through Dec. 31.

By Saturday morning, DNR fisheries personnel will have stocked nearly 22,000 rainbow trout in 17 streams across the state. The trout are produced at DNR’s Curtis Creek Trout Rearing Station in LaGrange County.

In addition to rainbows, brown trout raised at Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery will be stocked in mid-May. However, anglers may catch holdover browns from prior stockings in streams such as the Brookville Lake tailwater on the Whitewater River, Little Elkhart River, Solomon Creek and Pigeon River.

Information about Indiana trout stocking sites and the respective number of trout stocked at each is at wildlife.IN.gov/5457.htm.

Anglers age 18 and older must have a trout stamp and valid fishing license to fish for trout. The daily bag limit is five trout, and no more than one can be a brown trout. The minimum size limit is 7 inches.

An 18-inch minimum size limit for brown trout exists at Oliver, Olin and Martin lakes in LaGrange County, and on Whitewater River below the Brookville Lake dam in Franklin County. Also, sections of the Little Elkhart River, Solomon Creek and Cobus Creek in Elkhart County are designated as catch-and-release and artificial lures or flies only. Before fishing, make sure you know the law, particularly at these special sites.

The DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife reminds Indiana anglers that last year’s fishing licenses have expired.

Indiana fishing licenses are valid from April 1 through March 31 of the following year, so a 2017 license is now required.

With a few exceptions, a valid fishing license issued by the DNR is needed to fish in public lakes, streams, rivers or tributaries in Indiana or its boundary waters. Children younger than 18 and adults born before April 1, 1943, are not required to have a license to fish.

An annual fishing license costs $17 for Indiana residents and $35 for non-residents. Indiana residents who are at least 64 years old and born after March 31, 1943 are eligible to buy a Senior Annual ($3) or Senior Fish for Life ($17) license.

Licenses can be purchased online at INHuntFish.com, in person at more than 525 retailers statewide, or by calling the DNR Customer Service Center at (317) 232-4200 during normal business hours.