Interior Plateau Region

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Interior Plateau Region

What makes this region unique

The unique characteristics of the Interior Plateau region shape the fish and wildlife that inhabit it. When you’re in this region, you’re within the most forested and rugged part of the state, which maintains its steep terrain because glaciers did not scrape the area flat. You’ll observe noticeable transitions between plants from a slope’s north side to its south side. Though timber rattlesnakes call the dry, rocky ridgetops of the hills home, living among the oaks and hickories, you’ll rarely detect their presence. In the oldest sugar maple trees, you could find the Cerulean warbler making its nest or picking away at insects for its young.

In the shallowest soils, grass-dominated communities coexist with gnarled blackjack oak trees, while in the rockiest places, sparse vegetation grows next to exposed rock faces. The Interior Plateau Region contains the most extensive network of below-ground caves and sinkholes with distinct invertebrates and animals adapted to life in complete darkness. In the winter, you may be walking atop this cave network without even knowing that, below you, Indiana bats have returned home to hibernate in the caves.

If you are enjoying a float on the clean and clear water of the Blue River, you might be sharing the river with a hellbender, a river-dwelling salamander. If you’re in the area, you might notice the state’s recovery efforts to increase the hellbender population through reintroduction and river restoration projects, which help to clean the water as it enters the hellbender’s Blue River home.

The region is also unique in that it is home to fish and wildlife that thrive in its remaining wild places.

Additional Resources

• Want to learn more about other fish and wildlife that live in Indiana?
• Read about this region in the Indiana State Wildlife Action Plan.