NEBRASKAland Articles

You’ll be surprised by how many beautiful places in Nebraska recreational vehicles can visit. Many Game and Parks attractions have sites catering  to recreational vehicle users during their outdoor pursuits. Here is a list of some of the best places for RV recreational opportunities in Nebraska. Alexandria State Recreation Area (Jefferson County) – 40 sites with 30-amp electrical hookup, 5 sites with 50-amp electrical hookup and 8 sites without electricity. The campground offers water, modern restrooms, a playground and dump …

The Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) program recently hosted a Beyond BOW ice fishing event at the Valentine Refuge Lakes. With good ice throughout the state it was the perfect time to teach women about the equipment and techniques of ice fishing. During this Beyond BOW, women that wanted to learn how to ice fish or get more insight of the sport signed up to experience something new where they could learn together. Emails of what to bring were sent out …

Concealed beneath a grass blind as the sun rises. Camping beneath a star-filled sky on a rocky ridge. Trekking with snowshoes into a forest blanketed by white. Soaring above the buttes while riding shotgun in a Cessna. Stirring up dust with a four-wheel drive on winding backroads. Those are just some of the many ways I witnessed beauty of the western Nebraska with camera in hand during 2017. A look back at the nature images I post to Facebook, Instagram …

As the “12 Days of Christmas” nears, it seems fitting to pay tribute to the gift most often mentioned in the familiar tune of that same name. That, of course, would be the partridge that “my true love sent to me” over and over again. While traveling a dirt road in northern Sheridan County in early December, I encountered the first partridge I have ever seen in the wild. I had heard of the gray partridge (Perdix perdix) residing in …

Nebraska puts “southern hospitality” to shame according to eclipse tourists. A Pennsylvania family sent in this rave review of the state after visiting during 2017’s eclipse: I’m writing to NEBRASKAland to tell you how much I enjoy it. I first subscribed to the magazine in February after I decided I was coming to Nebraska to watch the eclipse. I thought it might give me some tips on what to do and see in Nebraska. It did, as we enjoyed an outing …

Canada Goose Hunting in Nebraska and “the Leopold tingle” In his classic 1949 book A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold, the father of wildlife conservation, asked: “What is a wild goose worth? I have a ticket to the symphony. It was not cheap … but I would forego the experience for the sight of the big gander that sailed honking into my decoys at daybreak this morning. I saw him, I heard the wind whistle through his set wings, as …

Some of the most common wildlife have the most magnificent capabilities. Painted turtles basking on a log is a familiar scene at ponds throughout Nebraska and much of the United States during summer months. Where, though, do those turtles go when temperatures drop and a heavy sheet of ice surrounds that log and covers that pond from shore to shore? This article provides some interesting information about how painted turtles, snapping turtles and other species of shelled reptiles survive the …

Ponca State Park tree is one of the oldest in Nebraska Ponca’s 373 Year Old Tree Ponca State Park, one the agency’s flagship parks, is located on bluffs overlooking the Missouri River just 2 miles north of the town of Ponca. Growing in the interior of park woodlands is a bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) estimated at a whopping 373 years old. This “Old Wolf Tree” was so named and designated as a “Nebraska Heritage Tree” by the Nebraska Community Forestry …

A Facebook post leads to a mystery being solved. by Cara Pesek City Foxes Whether or not they’re distracted by a freshly killed chicken, foxes are more common in Lincoln and other cities than one might think, said Sam Wilson, the furbearer and carnivore program manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.  Foxes compete with larger canids, such as coyotes, for habitat and prey. Coyotes kill foxes when they have the chance, Wilson said. But coyotes are less likely …

I will not count it among easiest photo assignments I have had. Mother Nature says, “Hey, I’m going to give you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with challenging lighting situations and because you’re a nature photographer everyone is going to expect you to get great images. You can have from a few seconds to 2½ minutes to get your shot, depending on the spot you choose within this narrow strip through the middle of Nebraska. I may or may not send clouds. …