November 2007

 

In This Issue

1. NET Christmas Open House 2007
2. November Features: Making a difference to Nebraska Wildlife

Let's Celebrate!!

Thanksgiving is almost here and the holiday season is just around the corner.  The Trust just held its fourth quarter Board Meeting and the Grants Committee is busy reviewing the current grant applications.  We hope you will enjoy the articles in this issue about some of the great wildlife projects we have helped fund recently.  We would also like to invite you all to stop by the Ferguson Center and enjoy a cup of coffee and a cookie and say hello during one of our two open houses coming up (see details below).  This is a great opportunity to see this beautiful historic house that we get to enjoy every day.

For those that can't make it to the open house on Sunday, December 9th, we will have an open house at just the Ferguson House on Monday, December 10th from 2:30pm till 3:30pm. We will be offering tours of the house as well as serving cookies and coffee. Please join us during one of the open houses.

Mark A. Brohman
Executive Director          

November Features: Making a difference to Nebraska Wildlife

The Tern and Plover Conservation Partnership works with parties to find sensible solutions

The Tern and Plover Conservation Partnership
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The Tern and Plover Conservation Partnership, works to prevent and resolve conflicts between nesting Interior Least Terns (Sternula antillarum athalassos) and Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus) and the sand and gravel mining industry in Nebraska. The Partnership works with interested parties to find sensible, proactive solutions to protect these birds, along with other components of the Platte River ecosystem. They do this while ensuring that business, industry and private interests are free to continue to operate with minimal interference.

The Partnership’s successful working relationship with the sand and gravel mining operations along the Platte, Loup, and Elkhorn rivers continues. Real estate developers find the lakes at sand and gravel mines attractive for conversion into beach front-lakeshore communities, however, terns and plovers see the sandy beaches as good nesting habitat. Not surprisingly, there are disagreements between the birds and people, but, by working together, quite the opposite can be true. This year they worked with the Riverview Shores Development, near North Bend. Their combined efforts at this one site resulted in 118 chicks (106 terns and 12 plovers) hatching, an accomplishment we are all proud of.  This is the largest and most successful nesting colony that we know of in Nebraska this year. We are also proud of the fact that none of our sand and gravel mining company partners, real estate developers, businesses or private individuals were cited or fined under the Endangered Species Act this year—a perfect record that stretches back to their founding in 1999.

The Partnership’s education and outreach programs are expanding rapidly. They recently became involved in a national project to develop science and math programs for underserved schools. The first program is directed toward Native American schools in Nebraska and South Dakota. They now have education programs available for a wide variety of audiences. Homeowner’s, construction workers, utility crews, and others now have access to usable on-site, on-the-job information about least terns and piping plovers through the partnership.. 

Look them up on the web <ternandplover.unl.edu>

Nine Mile Creek

The Nine Mile Creek Project started in January 2003 with the hiring of a watershed coordinator using 319 funds through Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, to research the area, determine the size of the watershed, gather data, talk to landowners and start the process of “Community Based Planning”. A 14 member Nine Mile Creek Watershed Council was formed to help guide and direct the “restoration” of the creek.

A management plan, written by the coordinator with input from the stakeholders (made up of landowners, sportsmen, technical people, and field staff from congressional representatives) was adopted. The management plan, in place for 10 years, provides for follow-up methods of controlling re-growth of Russian olive sprouts, Salt cedar shoots and thistle rosettes as needed.  As areas are cleaned up, native trees and shrubs have been planted to provide habitat and food for wildlife.

The removal of approximately 20,000 Russian olive trees from approximately 16 miles of Nine Mile Creek and it’s tributaries brought the riparian area back to pre-infestation openness.

Gaining access to the creek has fishermen smiling.  Removing the canopy allowed native grasses to respond to the sunlight with vigorous growth.  Controlling noxious weeds (Canada thistle, Musk thistle and Salt cedar) became much easier with better access to, and visibility of, the growing plants. The removal of the Russian olive trees has benefited livestock, wildlife, and fisherman by eliminating the conditions conducive to mosquito infestations.  The dense canopy had created a steady humid atmosphere for the mosquito to thrive in.  The Russian olive trees provided predatory birds with a place to roost and prey on ground dwelling wildlife.

Natural buffer action of the resurgent grasses has helped with the reduction of silt and sediment deposits in Nine Mile Creek.  Insect populations have moved closer to the stream edge as the grasses can now grow along the banks.  This action creates a more abundant food source for the fish population. As the gravel and rock streambed becomes more exposed, macroinvertebrates are able to thrive and multiply.

There has been an increase in water flow, an increase in wildlife habitat and a corresponding increase in wildlife numbers.

Landowners have a more positive attitude, with the most common comment being “this is the way it used to look” before the invasive species gradually took control of the riparian areas!  

   

Picture shows deer and trout at Nine Mile Creek

Improving Native Prairie for a Rare Rattlesnake and Sustainable Livestock Production

 

Some of the highest quality native tallgrass prairie remnants in Nebraska are found in Pawnee County, located in the southeast corner of the state. It is also home to the largest remaining population of massasauga, a small and rare rattlesnake that relies on crayfish burrows for hibernation and an abundance of open tallgrass prairie habitats the rest of the year. In order to promote management for healthy tallgrass prairie habitats in the area, Northern Prairies Land Trust wildlife biologists Jarren Kuipers and Kent Pfeiffer work with willing private landowners on habitat improvement projects using grants through the Nebraska Landowner Incentive Program and the Nebraska Environmental Trust.

This summer Kuipers, was contacted by John Sisco, a rancher in the Pawnee County region. He was seeking advice on how to control encroaching eastern red cedar, black locust and Osage orange trees on 480 acres of native tallgrass prairie pasture. The invasive trees were pushing out the prairie plant community, which was important for livestock production and seasonal habitats of the state listed massasauga. The property was also located next to the largest known massasauga population in the state. Because a state listed at-risk species and it’s habitats existed on the property and the surrounding area, it was eligible for cost-share funds for habitat improvements. A habitat improvement plan and contract was written to provide 75% cost-share for the removal of the large trees on the property and for prescribed burning. In return, Mr. Sisco will defer grazing on the property at least two times over the 10 years in order to provide occasional taller grassland habitats, restore grassland vigor for livestock grazing and provide fuel for prescribed burning. Prescribed burning and improved grassland health should restrict tree reencroachment, promote native plant and animal diversity and regenerate productive native plants.

Massassauga - Picture by Dan Fogell

Upcoming Events

Christmas Open House, Sunday, December 9, 2007, 1:00pm-5:00pm. Take a stroll and see three of Lincoln's finest historic houses decorated for the holidays: The Thomas P Kennard House, The Historic Eastlake Manor and the William H. Ferguson House.

For further information, you may call:

Tel: 402-471-4764 (Thomas P. Kennard House)

Tel: 402-471-5409 ( William Ferguson House)

Tel: 402-613-0775 ( The Historic Eastlake Manor)

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Do you have an event you would like to announce in Resource? Send your event details to Sheila Johnson and we will include it in our next mailing.