May 23, 2008
News about a little-known shorebird that frequents south-central Nebraska is featured in the most recent issue of an internationally-recognized ornithological journal.
Buff-breasted sandpipers — classified as a “highly imperiled” species by the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan in 2004 — are the subject of a study reported in this year’s first issue of Condor, the journal of the Cooper Ornithological Society. The study documents the importance of the Rainwater Basin region to these long-distance migrants, which stop in Nebraska on their way from wintering areas in southern South America to breeding grounds in northernmost Alaska and Canada.
The buff-breasted sandpiper, or “buffie,” is a two-ounce bird that, like most types of shorebirds, has long, delicate-looking legs and a slender bill. Its back and upper wings are patterned dark- and light-brown, and its underside, as the name suggests, is buff-colored fading to white.
The article notes that the eastern Rainwater Basin is the only area of Nebraska where the birds are seen regularly, and that sightings are rare elsewhere in the Great Plains. While here, buffies typically are found in agricultural fields, unlike many other shorebird species, which more often occupy the shallow and drying areas around wetland edges.
In the study, researchers estimated the number and density of buff-breasted sandpipers stopping over in the region, based on surveys conducted from county roads during May of 2004 and 2005. The results equaled or even exceeded the 15,000 to 20,000 currently estimated as the entire global population, suggesting that more birds exist than previously thought. However, the article cites research indicating a continued population decline in recent decades. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of the Rainwater Basin region to the survival of the species.
Publication in the Condor is significant, says the article’s lead author Joel Jorgensen, Nongame Bird Program Manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, because it is one of the most esteemed ornithology journals in North America, read by scientists and professional ornithologists. “Estimates have been rigorously reviewed,” he says, and their publication provides “credibility that these numbers of birds are moving through the Rainwater Basin.” Co-authors of the report are John P. McCarty and L. LaReesa Wolfenbarger, both University of Nebraska at Omaha biology professors.
It is partly on the strength of the buff-breasted sandpiper research that the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture is requesting that the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) designate the Rainwater Basin region a Landscape of Hemispheric Importance for shorebirds. The region also hosts more than 30 other species of migrating shorebirds, numbering in the hundreds of thousands each year. Jorgensen describes WHSRN as “a non-governmental, non-regulatory entity that identifies key shorebird sites and promotes shorebird conservation throughout the Americas.”
The eastern Rainwater Basin region includes Clay, Fillmore, York, Hamilton, Butler, and Polk counties, and portions of Adams, Nuckolls, Thayer, Saline, and Seward counties.
June 12th, 2008
May 12, 2008
The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture has been awarded three Nebraska Environmental Trust grants in 2008, benefiting programs to restore and protect wetlands and habitat in south-central Nebraska’s Rainwater Basin region.
The Nebraska Environmental Trust provides grants to organizations and communities state-wide to help protect and preserve Nebraska’s natural resources.
The South-Central Nebraska LIDAR project, coordinated by the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture, will provide highly-detailed topographical data of landscape that includes the Rainwater Basins, and the central Platte and Republican rivers. LIDAR (Light Detection Ranging) uses laser technology to delineate watersheds by detecting the slight variations in elevation that characterize much of the Rainwater Basin region. This information will help in planning and design of wetland conservation projects by Joint Venture partners. Other organizations that will benefit from the data include the Platte River Recovery and Implementation Program, and a consortium of Natural Resources Districts. The NET grant, totaling $588,000 over two years, will be matched by $800,000 in federal dollars from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The Joint Venture will also receive a $346,474 grant for a Working Landscape Easement project that will restore and permanently protect over 300 acres of wetlands and grassland in Fillmore County. The easement protects the restored grassland from being plowed or developed, and the wetlands from being drained, but permits grazing and haying. The NET grant is intended to match a federal grant from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.
The Trust also awarded $300,000 for the third year of the Joint Venture’s Wetland Habitat Restoration and Protection grant, which provides for a wide variety of habitat projects throughout the Rainwater Basin region. “The Nebraska Environmental Trust is extremely important to the Joint Venture,” said coordinator Steve Moran. “It’s key to our ability to carry out the number of conservation projects we have, and serve the farmers we work with on a timely basis. The resource need is greater than can be funded by the Joint Venture, or even by Joint Venture partners.”
The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture is a public-private partnership created through the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. It is composed of conservation agencies, local government entities, non-profit organizations, and individuals, each contributing their expertise and resources to the protection and restoration of wetland habitat in the Rainwater Basin, a region that stretches from Gosper County in the west to Butler, Seward and Saline counties in the east.
June 12th, 2008
For Immediate Release
(March 1, 2008)
The Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has announced completion of a multiyear project to improve access for visitors at Funk Waterfowl Production Area in eastern Phelps County.
Funk WPA is a 1,995-acre complex of grasslands and wetlands divided by dikes, which permit wetland water levels to be individually controlled. Employees of the Wetland Management District have constructed a six-mile network of walking trails atop the dikes, and added interpretive signs that inform visitors about wetland management practices, native wildlife, and the importance of Rainwater Basin wetlands ã including Funk ã to migrating ducks, geese, and other birds.
Additional improvements include repair and enhancement of an observation blind whose low windows make it accessible to wheelchair users, and an accessible poured concrete path to the blind. Other trails are topped with crushed concrete. Parking lots are now located at various points along the trail network, and include several lots whose entrances were leveled and widened to accommodate school buses for field trips.
Ronnie K. Sanchez, Deputy Project Leader for the Wetland Management District, says the improvements will appeal to birdwatchers who come to south-central Nebraska for the spring migration, but the district also wanted to create an inviting site for local visitors to enjoy wildlife in the spring and year-round. We asked ourselves, “How can some of the local communities better use these areas?&dlquo; Funk, the largest of 60 WPAs the district manages in the region, was an obvious choice to “showcase” Rainwater Basin habitat.
Sanchez notes that the waterfowl migration is at its peak in early March; April and May bring migrating shorebirds, then the songbirds and waders that will nest in the area during summer.
Waterfowl Production Areas, including Funk WPA, are publicly-owned, and are generally open to public use during daylight hours. Unlike most WPA’s in the Rainwater Basin region ã which stretches from Dawson and Gosper counties in the west to Butler, Seward, and Saline counties in the east ã Funk WPA is not open to snow goose hunting in the spring. The WPA is 11 _ miles south and one mile east of the I-80 Odessa exit. It is 1 _ miles north of the community of Funk on U.S. Highway 6.
June 6th, 2008
13th annual Informational Seminar covers habitat, research, conservation, and more
For Immediate Release
(January 18, 2008)
Grand Island — The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture will host its 13th annual Informational Seminar on Tuesday, February 12, at the Quality Inn Convention Center in Hastings, Nebraska. The one-day seminar, from 9:00 to 4:00, is an opportunity for landowners, natural resource professionals, and other interested individuals to share ideas and learn about conservation issues, research, and habitat programs in south-central Nebraska’s Rainwater Basin region.
The featured morningplenary speaker is Dr. Mark S. Kuzila, Director of Conservation & Survey Division at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and State Geologist. Kuzila will discuss the geology, formation, and soils of the rainwater basins.
Breakout sessions will include: an overview of a study about the rainwater basins’ role in water quality and supply; discussions of how wetland habitat benefits waterfowl, pheasants, and other wildlife; an update on the next Farm Bill; and reviews of private land programs offered by the Joint Venture. In addition, throughout the day, Rainwater Basin landowners who have participated in Joint Venture projects and other wetland programs will discuss their experiences.
Joint Venture coordinator Steve Moran says the seminar is a forum in which people with diverse interests in the Rainwater Basin can learn not only about the region’s habitat, but about each other. “It’s not important that we’re all on the same page, but that we each understand what page others are on,&drquo; he says. When landowners, researchers, and conservation professionals understand each other’s points of view, says Moran, “then we can start communicating.”
The seminar is open to the general public. Agenda details are at www.rwbjv.org. To register, please send an e-mail by Tuesday, February 5, to Shanda Weber at shanda.weber@ne.usda.gov; include name, organization, and mailing address. Or phone 402-463-6771 ext. 112. A $20 registration fee, payable at the door, covers all sessions, snacks, and a buffet lunch. Landowners in the Rainwater Basin are invited to register free of charge.
The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture is a public-private partnership created through the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. It is composed of conservation agencies, local government bodies, non-profit organizations, and individuals, each contributing their expertise and resources to the protection and restoration of wetland habitat in the Rainwater Basin, a region that includes parts of Adams, Butler, Clay, Fillmore, Franklin, Gosper, Hall, Hamilton, Harlan, Kearney, Nuckolls, Phelps, Polk, Saline, Seward, Thayer, and York Counties.
June 6th, 2008
For Immediate Release
(January 4, 2008)
Grand Island - The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture has initiated a public comment period, January 1-April 15, 2008, regarding its application for designation as a Landscape of Hemispheric Importance by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN)
The Joint Venture is a partnership of private organizations, government agencies, and individuals cooperating to protect and restore wetlands in south-central Nebraska’s Rainwater Basin region. The Joint Venture’s projects have generally been aimed at providing habitat for migrating ducks and geese. However, Joint Venture coordinator Steve Moran emphasizes that high-quality wetlands provide other benefits, including flood control, improved water quality, and groundwater recharge, as well as habitat for a variety of birds and wildlife. “Over 257 species of birds have been identified as using Rainwater Basin wetlands,” he said, “including many rare and at-risk species.” Of interest in the WHSRN application is habitat for the estimated 200,000 to 300,000 migrating shorebirds that pay a brief but crucial visit to the Rainwater Basin each spring. The term “shorebird” refers to any of several dozen species of generally small, long-legged, narrow-billed birds that are often seen feeding on shorelines, beaches, or mudflats. Some shorebird species that visit the Rainwater Basin ã including white-rumped sandpipers, sanderlings, and Hudsonian godwits ã migrate each year between Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of South America, and the northernmost brink of Canada and Alaska. Because shorebirds spend a large portion of their lives in transit, each stopover is a much-needed opportunity for them to rest and fatten up, so as to survive the next leg of the journey.
One species, the buff-breasted sandpiper, is especially dependent on the eastern Rainwater Basin. According to a study by the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, virtually all of the world’s “buffies” ã estimated at 20,000 to 30,000 ã stop over to feed in the region’s agricultural fields each spring.
Because the region plays a vital role in the survival of buff-breasted sandpipers and other shorebirds, the Joint Venture will seek the designation, “Landscape of Hemispheric Importance” from WHSRN, a hemisphere-wide network of scientists, conservation groups,and shorebird habitat sites. WHSRN is a voluntary, non-government organization that neither makes nor enforces policy or regulations; its mission is to identify the sites and regions on which shorebirds depend, and to promote research, cooperation, and communication regarding the resources these birds require. WHSRN applicants are required to solicit public input regarding the potential designation. Comments may be sent to Steve Moran, Coordinator, Rainwater Basin Joint Venture, 2550 N. Diers Avenue, Grand Island, NE 68803 or by e-mail to Steve Moran. Additional information about WHSRN is at www.whsrn.org.
June 6th, 2008
For Immediate Release
(January 4, 2008)
Local employees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and partners in the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture met at Cottonwood Waterfowl Production Area in Phelps County for a pre-Thanksgiving tradition last week: their annual “seed-bagging day.”
Wearing dust masks and wielding plastic scoop shovels, workers attacked a ten-foot-tall heap of native plant seed, mixing and bagging approximately 8 _ tons in four hours. That’s enough, says USFWS’s Brad Krohn, to plant 1000-1500 acres of prairie and wetland restorations. The high-diversity seed mix contains native grass seed - including big bluestem, little bluestem, Indian grass, and Canada wild rye ã collected from the Waterfowl Production Areas managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District, located in Kearney. The mix also includes native forb, or broad-leaf, seeds ã such as purple prairie clover, black-eyed Susan, New England aster, and two species of penstemon ã contributed by The Nature Conservancy and Prairie Plains Resource Institute, both based in Aurora.
The Fish and Wildlife Service not only uses the seed mix on Waterfowl Production Areas in south-central Nebraska, but also distributes bags free of charge to nearby National Wildlife Refuges and to other organizations engaged in habitat restoration. “We try to work with all organizations that are in need of native seed, from small acreages, all the way up to Ducks Unlimited,” says Krohn, who coordinates the seed program.
Steve Donovan, Manager of Conservation Programs for DU in Nebraska, says his organization has used contributed seed to restore former cropland to waterfowl habitat at the Verona Complex in Clay County, and that several additional sites will benefit this year. “Native seed is very expensive,” he says, “and it helps tremendously to have a source like this.”
June 6th, 2008
