Toss on your boots, grab the spile and bucket — it’s time to capture one of nature’s sweetest gifts! March is maple syrup month in the state of Minnesota. Hearing about the process from Katie Chapman will have you licking your lips and reaching for the pancakes and venison! Yes, maple syrup on venison. https://www.mnmaple.org/ She Goes Outdoors Podcast · All Things Maple She Goes Outdoors Podcast · Restoring Streams One Beaver Dam at a Time About She Goes Outdoors: …

By Ted LaGrange, Wetland Program Manager When my oldest child was in elementary school in the 1990s, I was invited to give a class presentation on wetlands. When I asked the students if Nebraska had any wetlands and whether any cool animals lived in them, I was shocked to hear them say, “No.” They knew more about the Everglades of Florida and the Amazon of South America than they did about wetlands in their own state. I wanted to fix …

By Jeff Kurrus, Nebraskaland Magazine Not all fishing trips are created equal, nor do they need to be. Some are after-work, two-hour jaunts in the middle of the summer and others are all-day ice-fishing affairs where the mind, and body, are exhausted at day’s end. And while each is pleasurable in its own fantastic ways, these aren’t the only types of trips to make. Some require windshield time first. Here are my favorites. The Bite The message boards fill up …

By Delanie Bruce, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies & Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Many of us relate March to the beginning of spring, madness over college basketball and hunts for the infamous pot of gold. But there’s another magic that starts this month – the symphonies of birds calling. For instance, you might recognize the high-pitched “howk-howk!” of snow geese flying overhead or the “kar-r-r-r-o-o-o” of prehistoric sandhill cranes preening on a sandbar. Nebraska is a particularly special place …

By Todd Mills It’s impossible to measure the heart of your hunting dog, or in my experience, your retriever. Even more impossible is measuring when you should shut down your dog, or in some cases, manage them into their twilight years. No matter how willing the heart is, the body will grow weak. Long gone might be the days of the perfect water entry, or the sunrise to sunset upland hunt. Managing your own expectations and caring for your elderly …

In March, we highlight the timber rattlesnake, a Tier I at-risk species in Nebraska.   By Olivia DaRugna, Watchable Wildlife Biologist Like Indian Jones, many people are terrified of snakes, but this fear is not much more than a defense mechanism. When you stop to think about snakes and their role in the ecosystem, these animals have evolved to possess unique traits that are actually quite ingenious. For example, the serpents’ cryptic coloration keeps them well disguised, and with no …

Best of Show BEST OF SHOW – Wondrous Woodies Photo by Roy Swoboda, Meadow Grove @wild.focus.photography With more than 3,500 entries submitted through Instagram, the 2022 Nebraskaland Magazine Photo Contest once again drew a record number of stunning images, forcing us to add an additional category, Invertebrates, to our perennial categories of Wildlife, Flora, Scenic and Recreation. This year’s Best of Show winner, “Wondrous Woodies,” by Roy Swoboda of Meadow Grove, was taken on a slough near the Missouri River …

By Monica Macoubrie, Wildlife Education Specialist Aldo Leopold, John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt are names you might know. These men are considered the forefathers of conservation in American, and although what they accomplished has been important, the contributions of women in conservation often have been overlooked. To celebrate International Women’s Day, let’s peek into the past and see how women have shaped the wild places of North America. Rachel Carson Rachel Carson grew up in the rural river town of …

By Amber Schiltz, Wildlife Educator Dirt, soil, ground, outer crust layer — we walk, skip and drive on top of it every day without giving it much thought. Humans and most animals we know spend their lives above it, under blue skies and the light of the sun, in the wide-open space we call home above ground. But life doesn’t stop at the ground surface. There’s a whole world of nature found below. Let’s dive into this underground world and …

March Wildlife Viewing — Sandhill Cranes By Olivia DaRugna, Watchable Wildlife Biologist Observing the convergence of over a million sandhill cranes along the Central Platte River is like immersing yourself in a nature documentary. The sandhill crane migration is truly one of the world’s greatest wildlife spectacles, on par with the awe-inspiring caribou migrations across northern Alaska and Canada or the mass movement of wildebeest herds across the Serengeti in Tanzania. The best part about the sandhill crane migration is …