NGPC News

LINCOLN – Fort Robinson State Park guests again will celebrate Native American culture during one of the High Plains’ premier powwows. The 15th annual Intertribal Gathering will be June 13-15, featuring traditional dancing, drumming and singing in a family-friendly environment. The event annually attracts hundreds of dancers and spectators. An array of activities will complement the dancing, including a 5K run, storytelling and the crowning of a princess. Vendors selling Native American crafts, food and other items also will be …

LINCOLN – The severe weather that wreaked havoc across much of Nebraska on the evening and night of June 3 also appears to have claimed the two peregrine falcon chicks atop the Nebraska Capitol building. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission provides live streaming video of the nest box, and many falcon watchers awoke to find it empty early June 4. Game and Parks and Capitol staff, along with personnel from Fontenelle Forest’s Raptor Recovery, found the bodies of both …

LINCOLN – For the 22nd consecutive year, performers will take an audience back to the early days of the Oregon Trail during a pageant at Ash Hollow State Historical Park near Lewellen on June 14. The program, “Early Emigrants on the Oregon Trail,” will be at 6:30 p.m. Performers in costume will relive stories from the diaries of pioneers who traveled west for the 2,200-mile journey in the 1800s. Preceding the show, at 5 p.m., will be a chuck wagon …

LINCOLN – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will hold a public meeting at the Hay Springs Senior Center on June 17 at 6 p.m. to request input on Walgren Lake State Recreation Area. Game and Parks seeks specific input on a proposal to make the lake a waterfowl refuge. Game and Parks appreciates the interest of the community in Walgren Lake, and encourages the public to attend the meeting at 125 N. Main St. For more information, contact Craig …

LINCOLN – Landowners and other interested parties are invited to attend a tour highlighting habitat needs and management techniques for bobwhite quail and pollinators on June 11. The event starts at 11 a.m. at the Alexandria Community Center on the east side of Nebraska Hwy. 53 in Alexandria. This event includes information about the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative, quail habitat needs, and management techniques to increase quail numbers. A tour of public and private land sites to show different habitat …

It is prime time for viewing wildflowers in the Pine Ridge and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission staff members are inviting the public to an informational hike through the colorful countryside. Commission biologist Shelley Steffl and park naturalist Jami Campbell will lead the hike in the Mexican Canyon area of Fort Robinson State Park on Saturday, June 7. Participants will meet at the Post Playhouse at 9:30 a.m. and form a convoy to the site of the morning hike. Participants …

LINCOLN – Life at an 1820s military post will be depicted at Living History Weekend at Fort Atkinson State Historical Park (SHP) on May 31-June 1. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., volunteers will demonstrate period trades, such as blacksmithing, carpentry, tinsmithing and coopering, as well as crafts such as quilting, spinning and weaving. A “Remembrance to the Fallen” will take place on the parade grounds each day at 2 p.m. Fort Atkinson SHP, the first military post west of …

LINCOLN – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commissioners discussed a plan to address deferred maintenance needs within the state park system May 30 at their meeting in Alma. In July, $17.35 million from the state budget will be placed in Game and Parks’ deferred maintenance fund, and $150,000 will be placed in a fund for the maintenance and operation of Arbor Lodge State Historical Park. The priority list for deferred maintenance projects includes cabins and swimming pool at Ponca State …

LINCOLN – An upcoming aquatic habitat rehabilitation project at Conestoga Reservoir in Lancaster County requires the reservoir to be drawn down for construction. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has authorized fish salvage on the reservoir now until Jan. 1, 2015. The water level at the lake is down 4 feet and dropping. This salvage allows licensed anglers to utilize the remaining fish in the reservoir. Length limits are rescinded for the lake, but daily bag limits are maintained. Legal …

LINCOLN – Nebraska is home to many wildlife and plant species. In fact, Nebraska has more than 450 species of birds, 95 mammals, 106 fish, 61 amphibians and reptiles, and nearly 1,500 plants. Add to that more than 28,000 species of insects and unknown numbers of crustaceans, arachnids, mussels, fungi and bacteria. A snapshot of Nebraska’s biodiversity is on display through Aug. 17 at the “Explore Nebraska’s Biodiversity” exhibit at the Kearney KidZone, 5827 4th Ave., Kearney. The exhibit includes …