News

The first field season concluded in July for a research project to study the response of grassland breeding birds to Eastern redcedar management in the Sandhills. This multi-year research effort is led by Dr. Sarah Sonsthagen and PhD student Rachel Rusten with Nebraska Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) […]

The RWBJV worked closely with multiple Natural Resources Districts (NRDs) and local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) staff to highlight grassland enhancement opportunities, as well as water quality and quantity conservation practices available through NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and other partner programs. Ten different strategic mailings were completed based on input from the […]

The RWBJV submitted and was awarded our fourth Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Partnership (WREP) award to support playa protection and restoration. This application was developed statewide and includes all four Nebraska playa wetland complexes. This WREP outlines strategies to protect and restore 400 wetland acres and 200 acres of upland buffer. As with past WREPs this […]

Story By: Steve Mosley in partnership with the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture Near Funk, Nebraska – Tiny, almost microscopic seeds to be consumed by migrating birds in the millions are a treasure stitched into the fabric of Rainwater Basin wetland habitats. Seeds that remain provide the seedbank necessary to replenish the next year’s plant community […]

On the outskirts of the City of Holdrege sits Lake Seldom, a 325 acre green space.  But the area itself wasn’t always functioning like a playa wetland should. This area had previously been converted to farmland and a large pit had been excavated to concentrate water. In the early 2000’s, multiple partner organizations including Tri-Basin NRD, […]

Playa wetlands in South Central Nebraska are important wildlife habitat and critical recharge points to Ogallala Aquifer. Natural Resource Districts have documented an acre of wetlands can recharge sufficient groundwater to irrigate 3.5 acres of cropland with 6 inches of allocation. Currently there is an open enrollment sign-up period for the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s […]

By Steve Moseley/RWBJV Nick and Ryan Happold, who operate a row crop and cattle operation east and south of Doniphan, had a combined 58 acres between them that, historically, has been underwhelming for corn production. There’s more than one way to turn a profit on marginal farm ground and the Happold brothers have found theirs. […]

A major focus for the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture (RWBJV) throughout last year (2023) was on postcard and letter outreach. Even with modern efforts like social media and content creation, this form of communication continues to be one of our more successful tools. Program focus for these communication campaigns was on the Inflation Reduction Act […]

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) is pleased to provide an update (one long overdue) on two of the latest wetland restoration projects on our Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) within the Rainwater Basin: North Lake Basin Wildlife Management Area is comprised of approximately 364 acres and is located ½ mile north of Utica, NE […]

The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture is committed to transparency and building trust with our stakeholders by clearly articulating our goals and objectives in our long-term Planning documents and Annual Operations Plan.  As part of that commitment, RWBJV also makes the geospatial data we develop to inform those plans Open and available to the public to […]