LINCOLN – A new wine festival is coming to Eugene T. Mahoney State Park this spring. The inaugural Toast Wine Festival, highlighting wines from across Nebraska, will be held May 3-4. Guests may sample these wines while enjoying music, food and conversation. The weekend also will include an amateur wine-making competition, unique food pairings, art and jewelry vendors, seminars and trolley tours through the park. Featured musicians, food vendors, artists and more will be updated on the Toast Nebraska Facebook …

LINCOLN – Two Omaha Mater Dei Academy students had the high scores in the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) state tournament in Lincoln on March 22. Sam Welp had the high score of 287 points, while Rebecca Short had the girls’ high score of 280. Mater Dei Academy’s Team 1 scored a state-record 3,302 points, winning the high school division. The state’s largest archery event, which took place at the Lancaster Event Center, included 640 students from 28 …

LINCOLN – The following is a listing of Nebraska Game and Parks Commission events and important dates in April: April 1 – Light Goose Conservation Order closes April 1 – Trout Family Fishing Night, Heartwell Park Lake, Hastings April 1-14 – Archery paddlefish permit application period April 2 – Trout Family Fishing Night, Auble Pond, Ord April 3 – Trout Family Fishing Night, Fort Kearny State Recreation Area (SRA) Lake No. 2, Kearney April 4 – Fort Robinson Tree Plant, …

LINCOLN – Spring turkey hunters are urged to be safe while enjoying their experience this spring by knowing their target and what is beyond it. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has the following additional safety tips: — Wear blaze orange so other hunters will see you. Avoid wearing blue, red and white because they are colors common to turkeys. — Do not shoot at sound or movement. — If you see another hunter stalking you, call out to alert …

LINCOLN – The east parking lot on Rose Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA), located south of Fairbury in Jefferson County, is closed to target shooting because of vandalism and safety concerns. Target shooting is allowed on the WMA but prohibited within 100 yards of the parking lot. Shooters should shoot away from the parking lot and in a safe direction. They also should remove their targets, casings and shells when finished. Continued vandalism of regulation signs, guardrail posts and steel …

LINCOLN – A Sheridan County landowner on March 21 shot a young mountain lion that had approached his chicken coop. The lion did not flee when the landowner walked within 15 yards of it. The mountain lion was a 30-pound female. No evidence of additional mountain lion activity was found at the time of the incident. The landowner immediately called the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, as required by law. Landowners are allowed to protect their livestock from predators, including …

LINCOLN – Regulations designed to help deer herds grow in much of the state were adopted by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commissioners at their meeting March 21 in Norfolk. In 2012, a drought and an outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) killed off an estimated one third of the state’s whitetail population. Regulations created to help recover the populations began last year and continue in 2014.   The regulations that should allow deer numbers to increase this year include: …

LINCOLN – The Nebraska spring turkey hunting season opens for archers March 25. Spring turkey hunters must use archery equipment March 25-April 11 and may use either archery equipment or a shotgun April 12-May 31. Youth hunters must use archery equipment March 25-April 4 and may use either archery equipment or a shotgun April 5-May 31. Hunters under age 16 need a youth spring turkey permit, hunters age 16 and older need a spring turkey permit, and landowners need a …

LINCOLN – A recent Supreme Court ruling on the ownership of abandoned railways won’t affect Nebraska’s Cowboy Trail. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that after a railroad has abandoned a line, the land should revert to owners of the adjacent property instead of to the federal government. Some fear the ruling threatens Rails to Trails projects across the country built on abandoned railways. The Cowboy Trail, however, is built on land that has been railbanked, rather than …

LINCOLN – Private pond owners are encouraged to report severe winter fish kills to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission following ice-out. Winter fish kills occur when oxygen levels fall too low to support fish under the ice. Ice prevents the direct absorption of oxygen from the atmosphere, so oxygen produced by plant photosynthesis is crucial. Oxygen levels drop because of plant decomposition and respiration by aquatic organisms. Shallow ponds with heavy vegetation are particularly susceptible. Once the ice is …