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Regional Conservation Opportunities

Agriculture producers and other landowners work with the RWBJV and its partners on a variety of initiatives and other projects. Through financial incentives, cost-share, and technical assistance, RWBJV partners can help with solutions that benefit your operation and your land while also benefiting wildlife. For example:

  • Removal of eastern red cedars improves rangeland and also improves habitat for grassland birds.
  • Flood-prone cropland, if used instead for pasture, may provide more income – and would also offer wetland habitat to migrating waterfowl.
  • Filling unused irrigation pits can increase farmable acres and remove obstacles from farm fields – plus improve the function of nearby wetlands.
  • Restored wetlands and streams, while providing wildlife habitat, can also improve the quantity and quality of groundwater and reduce local flooding.

 

Regions Where Opportunities are Available

Although the RWBJV maintains its focus in the Rainwater Basin for on-the-ground conservation and habitat projects, the partnership also provides biological planning, conservation design tools, and other support to conservation partners in the “RWBJV Administrative Area.” The Administrative Area encompasses the Nebraska portions of the NABCI-designated Mixed-Grass Prairie Bird Conservation Region (BCR-19) and Prairie Pothole Region (BCR-11).

For planning purposes, the RWBJV has divided the Administrative Area into eight Geographic Focus Areas (GFAs), according to similar topographies, soils, land use, threats to habitat, priority species, and conservation opportunities. The eight GFAs are:

 

Projects

Fill an irrigation reuse pit
Transition flood-prone land to forage production
Add grazing infrastructure
Trade or sell flood-prone land
Manage wetland vegetation

Resources

ACEP WRE Fact Sheet
Grazing on Public Lands
Grazing on Wetlands Reserve easements

RWBJV Administrative Area

Successful Projects

Berggren Plan Benefits Landowners and Pheasants
Wildflowers in CRP planting

In 2016, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) introduced its new five-year plan to promote and improve pheasant hunting throughout the state. Named the Berggren Plan in honor of Lynn Berggren, a former commissioner for the NGPC, it is an update of the previous Focus on Pheasants initiative. Berggren

Prescribed Fire Program Removes Trees and Improves Grasslands

A grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust has helped professional wildland firefighters hone their skills while also helping Central Loess Hills landowners improve the quality of their grazing lands – and grassland bird habitat. For over a century, strong feelings about wildfire led to suppression and prevention of naturally occurring

Range Land and Grassland Bird Habitat Benefit from Grant

Conservation partners have been working together in the Sandhills to improve grassland and wetland habitat on private and public lands. The condition of grasslands and wetlands in Nebraska’s Sandhills are generally better than in many other areas, due in large part to the land ethic of the ranching community, which

The Working Lands Initiative’s Inaugural Project

A restored wetland and 140 acres of former irrigated cropland near Norman, Nebraska represent the initial project in the Working Landscapes initiative, a collaborative effort of the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture partnership. Partners in this project include the Nebraska Environmental Trust, Ducks Unlimited, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Nebraska Game