Tag Archives: sandhills

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and its partners have received a $4 million grant through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to restore grassland and wetland habitat for at-risk species. A four-year conservation project will take place in the Sandhills and adjacent areas, where wetlands and streams face alteration and channelization. Grasslands also are being encroached by eastern redcedar, which can reduce the available forage for livestock, increase wildfire risk, reduce stream flow, and degrade wildlife habitat. A voluntary, …

LINCOLN, Neb. – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission recently received $200,000 from the Nebraska Environmental Trust for the Nebraska Natural Legacy Project: New Approaches to Biodiversity Conservation. This is the third and final year of the grant project, totaling $570,000. These funds have been used to improve thousands of acres of habitat on private and public lands. Two notable efforts include removal of eastern red cedar trees in the Sandhills and prescribed burning with landowners throughout the state. Both …

LINCOLN, Neb. – The trumpeter swans of the Sandhills and forestry work in the Pine Ridge are among the many topics featured in the 74-page June issue of Nebraskaland Magazine. Mark Vrtiska, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission waterfowl program manager, writes about the research of trumpeter swan reproduction in the Sandhills. Regional editor Justin Haag’s article about forestry in the Pine Ridge details the collaborative work between landowners and governmental agencies for a more sustainable future for the region’s landscape, …

Blooms on the Dunes From many Sandhills dune tops, one can see prairie stretching to the horizons. North America’s largest sand dune field, the wind-whipped Sandhills, covers more than 20,000 square miles of north-central Nebraska, ranging from low and rolling to steep and towering. The Sandhills is also our nation’s most intact grassland ecosystem – the wildflower-rich prairie, a vestige of times past. n 1795, James Mackay, working for the Upper Missouri Company, led the first European expedition into the heart of the …

Anyone can appreciate the mountains but it takes a true outdoors person to appreciate the Sandhills.    They are as beautiful as they are rugged.   Inviting yet unforgiving.    Gentle to the eye yet harsh to all who inhabit this rugged and scenic landscape.  Filled with incredible flora and fauna along with some of the coolest people Nebraska has to offer.   Each year I have the good fortune of heading out into the Sandhills, shotgun in hand, to chase sharp-tailed grouse and …

Fall can be a magical time for photography. But when the last of the golden leaves fall from the trees, some photographers find themselves wishing for a white Christmas … or Thanksgiving, or any day for that matter … and waiting impatiently for spring and the return of green to the forest. But wonderful fall color can be found long after the leaves fall. In fact, the trees aren’t even the first vegetation to put on an autumnal display. Native …

While working the Omaha Boat, Sports and Travel Show yesterday, I was reminded about a couple Nebraska rivers not floated much that have nearly constant water levels year-round being spring-fed by the massive Ogallala Aquifer. That reminder was prompted by a good friend in Nebraska’s outdoor recreation scene – float trip outfitter Mitch Glidden of Mullen, NE. Mitch, along with his wife – Patty (she really runs things, sorry Mitch), own and operate Glidden Canoe Rental and the Sandhills Motel …