Conservation

A series of nature programs continues this week at the two state parks in the northern Panhandle. Park naturalist Jami Campbell will lead eight family-friendly programs at Chadron State Park and Fort Robinson State Park on Thursday, June 5, through Saturday, June 7. The action will start at Chadron State Park’s Trading Post on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. with a program about snakes. At 5:30 p.m. she will tell about the tiniest creatures in the prairies and forests. The programming …

I hate “litter bugs”.  If I see another styrofoam worm container on the shoreline of one of my fishing spots, I am going to scream!  I have used the word “pig” before to describe folks who discard all manner of trash in our environment and especially around our public fishing areas.  I probably should not call ’em “pigs” because that is offensive to real pigs.  If I had my way, discarding trash of any kind on our public hunting and …

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is reminding landowners that they have until June 1 to enroll in a program that pays for keeping wheat and milo stubble tall during this year’s harvest. Last year, the Nebraska Environmental Trust awarded $1.5 million to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to enroll tall wheat and milo stubble into the Crop Stubble Management, Wildlife and Water Conservation Program over three years. This is the second year of the grant. The program is …

Here is the report on this spring’s pallid sturgeon broodstock collection efforts: Here is the .pdf of the same report, 2014 NGPC Broodstock Newsletter .  Be sure to check out the FaceBook page, NGPC Pallid Sturgeon Broodstock , and if you want to see more pictures, flickr–Missouri River Program. Thank you to everyone who helped!

If you are one of our Youth Fishing Instructor volunteers, you have already seen this.  But, I want to post it for others to see and maybe it will prompt a few more folks to become part of the program, Youth Fishing Program. If you want to see a “cleaner” version, here it is, spring 2014 Newsletter. If you are already a Nebraska Youth Fishing Instructor volunteer, again, Thank You!  I know I have said that before, but there are …

I have to admit that my job duties have evolved over the years.  I do not get out to do a lot of field work anymore.  Most of my “field work” is done with a fishing rod in hand while I am off duty.  Every spring Fisheries Division employees are very busy with collecting fish and eggs, stocking fish, etc. etc.  Spring is one of the busiest times of the year.  Many of those efforts take extra man-power and it …

Every year about this time I warn you that I mostly blog about fish and fishing except when those beautiful, big, Tom turkeys are gobbling.  That time is NOW.  I will still be on the water when I get a chance, but there is so much to do in Nebraska’s great outdoors in the coming weeks, so you will have to forgive me if my one-track fishing mind is a little distracted.  Do not worry, I will continue to share …

If you manage it, they will thrive! “ “We don’t always understand that you cannot plant wildlife habitat and let it go, it needs to be managed,” says Eric Zach, Agricultural Program Manager here at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. “A landowner must set the stage for better years regarding upland game bird nesting and brood-rearing cover,” he adds. Well put, Eric, well put! With that information in mind, we travel to our Wagner family farm in southeast Nebraska …

It is spring and spawning is in the air.  Every early April for the past several years our Missouri River fisheries biologists along with a lot of great help from volunteers, have ventured onto the Missouri River to capture endangered pallid sturgeon.  Specifically, the pallid sturgeon they are hoping to catch are female pallid sturgeon.  When the right fish are captured, those female pallid sturgeon are hauled to fish hatcheries where eggs can be collected in order to produced more …

Every little bit helps, and every little bit has a way of turning into a big bit. Such is the case with the Boy Scouts’ annual tree planting event at Fort Robinson State Park, which I enjoyed photographing Saturday. The process of getting hundreds of scouts and volunteers into the field to plant ponderosa pine seedlings in the yearly reforestation effort has been honed to near perfection and is a sight to see. It was a bittersweet day, though, for …