Conservation

If you are in the area and can make it to this meeting next week, we would love to have you! Commission to Host Meeting on Valentine-Area Projects LINCOLN – A public informational meeting will be held in Valentine on March 26 to discuss several planned improvements for fishing, boating and angler access in the area. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will host the meeting at the Niobrara Lodge, 803 E. U.S. Highway …

Last weekend I was informed, sort of anonymously on the inter-web, that I was a fine, lazy state worker.  Ironically, that came after working my seventh weekend out of the ten since the first of the year.  I recalled that yesterday when I actually got out of the office to help with some field work.  I do not do that often anymore, but on occasion I get to be back on the water helping one of our field biologists.  The occasion yesterday was …

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has completed the second year of an annual mule deer survey in portions of the Pine Ridge management unit in northwestern Nebraska. On Feb. 6-9, Commission employees used a contracted helicopter to repeat the 2014 mule deer survey. Commission staff counted 758 deer in 429 square miles of the unit compared to 862 in the same areas in 2014. The data will be compared to mule deer numbers in other areas of the state …

Dave Kinnamon, park superintendent at Lewis and Clark Lake State Recreation Area (SRA), has had his share of experience with fire. Before accepting his current position at the SRA near Crofton in late 2013, Kinnamon served as park superintendent at Chadron State Park in western Nebraska, where he helped to combat the forest fires of 2012. Prior to leaving Chadron, Kinnamon helped the park obtain a surplus fire truck from the City of Seward Fire and Rescue to allow park …

Conservation officers Alexandra Frohberg and Tom Zimmer made a surprise visit to Covington Elementary in South Sioux City recently. As part of a class assignment, third grade student Kevin Castro wrote to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to invite staff to visit his class and to read. “The students love to have guest readers come in, and I love to show how reading is a part of life, even after school,” said Castro’s third grade teacher Sara Friedrichsen. “So …

The Great Outdoor Radio Show I host on will be broadcasting LIVE this Saturday morning, March 7th, from the the Nebraska Safari Club International Hunting Expo and Convention. This event is a benefit for wildlife conservation projects as well as youth outdoor education programs in Nebraska. The safari club has financially supported or been directly involved with such programs/projects as the Water Festival at the Two Rivers SRA, Halsey 4-H Camps, Archery in the Schools, Trout in the Classroom, Nebraska Pronghorn Antelope Restoration, and Nebraska River Otter and Bighorn Sheep Reintroductions, …

It has been a few years since we had any state record fish that have been caught through the ice.  We had a couple of fish caught & released through the ice last winter that were state record class ( Big Fish! , Big Fish! Its Happened Again! ), but none in recent years that have been certified as state records.  I have one that was caught through the ice this winter, and it is a bit of an unusual …

I have often said that all of our waters can be important fisheries in Nebraska, and that includes some of the state’s smallest waters–pits and ponds.  Angler surveys have consistently shown us that at least a quarter of licensed Nebraska anglers spend some time fishing pits and ponds each year.  Those small waters produce some of the best largemouth bass and panfish fishing in Nebraska every year and there are a variety of other species caught from some of those …

The University of Nebraska (UNL) – Lincoln Wildlife Club extends an invitation to the public for their annual Wildlife Club Awards Banquet on April 11 at the Izaak Walton League, with the social hour beginning at 5:30pm. This year, UNL Lincoln Wildlife Club will be hosting John Chapo, the president and CEO of The Lincoln Children’s Zoo, as the keynote speaker. His presentation is titled “The Lincoln Children’s Zoo- Small Zoo, Large Success.” The banquet, which includes a catered dinner, is $20 …

BASSETT – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission placed tracking collars on three elk near Bassett in north-central Nebraska on Tuesday, the latest installment of a multi-year effort to use real-time location data to determine populations, make harvest recommendations and monitor herd health. Game and Parks contracted a helicopter wildlife capture crew to catch the elk and equip them with GPS tracking collars and ear tags. In addition, samples were taken from the three cows to obtain health and genetic …