Nebraska Bird Partnership

Are you a community leader, wildlife and tourism agency professional, or private business owner attempting to find new ways to take advantage of the growth in Wildlife/Nature Tourism? Then you should register to attend the 19th Annual Watchable Wildlife Conference. Participate in the comprehensive sessions concentrating on Wildlife Tourism Development and Management Programs, Wildlife Viewing Site Development, and Natural Resource Conservation Management. Hear the leading professional wildlife managers, business owners, and authors in the field of Wildlife/Nature Tourism.
 
The countryside surrounding Kearney offers the opportunity to experience the prairies, rivers and wetlands that play a critical role as a staging area for North America's largest waterfowl and crane migrations. This landscape provides one of the nation's most diverse wildlife viewing areas. Field trips to the area's top wildlife viewing sites are planned to make this conference a hands-on learning experience. Attendees will hear some the challenges and success stories from wildlife managers working in the area and across North America.

This year's program is looking as good as ever!  Take a look at the initial Conference Program highlights.  And don't forget... register before 9/15 and save!

The Kearney Holiday Inn Hotel & Conference Center will be the host site, and reduced conference rates matching government per diems have been arranged. For more information visit www.holidayinn.com or call direct at 308-237-5971.

We look forward to seeing you in Kearney, Nebraska October 5-7, 2010!

The July 2010 issue of Prairie Fire is available on newstands and online now.  Articles of interest about conservation and the outdoors include:

• Heritage Nebraska highlights Hidden Treasures and Fading Places for 2010

• Book Review: "The Ecology and Management of Prairie in the Central United States" by Chris Helzer

• Oil, water and 'The Blob'

• Nutrient pollution in the U.S. calls for urgent action

• Swallows along the Platte, part two

• Monarch butterflies: The last migration

• "Irresponsible" cowbirds and the decline of songbirds

• The North American Model of Conservation

• Putting the Deepwater Horizon oil spill into perspective

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reinstating a proposal to list the Mountain Plover, a native bird of short-grass prairie and shrub-steppe landscapes, as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The Service also requests the public to provide scientific information regarding the reinstated proposal and the newly available information regarding the status of the mountain plover.

Mountain Plovers breed in the western Great Plains and Rocky Mountain States from the Canadian border to northern Mexico. Within the United States, most breeding occurs in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado; fewer breeding birds occur in Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah.

Steven N. Mietz, currently deputy chief of science and resource management at Grand Canyon National Park, has been selected as the new superintendent for Missouri National Recreational River.  Mietz will begin this new assignment on August 15th, and succeeds Mike Madell, who transferred to Vicksburg National Military Park earlier this year.

“Steve’s experience working on adaptive management of the Colorado River will be invaluable as he assumes this leadership role at Missouri National Recreational River. Also of great benefit will be his work with endangered species and other natural resource management issues,” said Regional Director Ernest Quintana.  “We look forward to welcoming Steve and working with him as the newest member of the Midwest Region management team.” 

Tours and talks will walk participants through the natural history of Nebraska's Sand Hills next week in Ainsworth.  The ninth annual Sand Hills Discovery Experience July 8 centers on an “Ashes in the Sand Hills” theme, looking at climate, paleontology and other topics.

The event attracts about 100 people from across the state, said Dick Albrecht of Ainsworth, chairman of the Sand Hills Discovery Foundation.

Read more about the Sand Hills Discovery Experience from the Omaha World-Herald.

Crude oil has started flowing through the new Keystone Pipeline that passes through Nebraska.  TransCanada Corp. said commercial delivery of crude oil to markets at Wood River and Patoka, Ill., began Wednesday from the $12 billion pipeline.

Read more about the start of Keystone oil delivery from the Omaha World-Herald.

A wind energy development company is scouting the Hallam area for a potential wind farm with 30 turbine towers.  Hallam is about 25 miles southwest of Lincoln in southern Lancaster County.

A representative of Wind Capital Group recently contacted the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Department about a possible project, planner Mike DeKalb told the Lancaster County Board Thursday.  The project, which is still in the conceptual stage, would involve 30 wind turbines that would tie into Sheldon Station, a coal-fired power plant owned by the Nebraska Public Power District on the edge of Hallam.

Read more about potential Hallam wind development from the Lincoln Journal-Star.

This year's first hatch of rangeland grasshoppers resulted in fewer pests than expected in Western Nebraska, but landowners should prepare for a second, potentially stronger wave of grasshoppers now, said a University of Nebraska-Lincoln extension entomology specialist.

"Our first hatch of grasshoppers this year was reduced, we think, because of the weather. The cold and wet weather starved out a lot of the early, young grasshoppers from that first hatch," said Jeff Bradshaw, UNL extension entomology specialist.

The high water on the Elkhorn has subsided enough that river outfitters are back in business.  For your convenience, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission maintains this list of outfitters on the Elkhorn and other Nebraska lakes and rivers.

You envision a blissful campout with your family in the mountains or on a remote lake where the fish are hitting.  But if you are a first-timer, don't drag your family there this weekend.  Newcomers to camping and outdoor living need a gradual introduction that should probably start in your own backyard, according to camping experts.

Start with backyard cookouts. Learn how to build fires, roast marshmallows and cook over the coals. When you've done those things often enough that you and your family find them enjoyable and relaxing, try cooking at area parks.

The next step is to get comfortable sleeping in a tent — again, in your own backyard. You will get used to hearing bugs, birds and breezes. And if someone is having a bad night, you have the security of your house nearby.

Read more about starting out with camping at the Omaha World-Herald.

Scottsbluff officials have replaced part of a sewer line, so the city is no longer dumping raw sewage into the North Platte River.  The sewer line became blocked by sand last week because of the high level of the North Platte River.  The Nebraska Department of Environment Quality allowed the city to pump sewage into the river while the line was blocked.

The pumping began on Wednesday when sewage water started spewing out of a manhole.  Officials estimate that about 100 gallons of sewage a minute was flowing into the river while the sewer line was out of service.

Read more about the Scottsbluff sewage dumping from the Lincoln Journal-Star.