Nebraska Bird Partnership

Five years into implementing habitat conservation actions in support of the Nebraska Natural Legacy Project, plans are underway this year for an update. Input will be gathered from landowners, stakeholders and biologists across Nebraska to guide better conservation actions within the state and possibly surrounding states where Biologically Unique Landscapes (BULs) extend across political boundaries.

Anyone can have the opportunity to be engaged in the update process. Public meetings will be scheduled in cities across the state. Dates and exact locations will be announced. For more information, contact Kristal Stoner ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 402-471-5444) or Melissa Santiago ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 402-471-5708).

What is the Natural Legacy Project?

The Nebraska Natural Legacy Project is a blueprint for conserving wildlife and their habitats that joins natural resource professionals with agricultural partners and other stakeholders in order to use win-win conservation actions that benefit species and landowners. The Legacy Project has identified 40 BULs and over 600 species at-risk of having threatened or endangered status in Nebraska. Conservation initiatives under the Natural Legacy partnership strive for the recovery, stability, and growth of native species, communities, and priority landscapes.

The Need for a Conservation Strategy

Nebraska’s wildlife populations have declined because of habitat loss, habitat degradation, diseases, and competition and predation from invasive exotic species. The Nebraska Natural Legacy Project strives to prevent further losses of the state’s biodiversity and to maintain healthy, stable native wildlife populations. The Legacy program uses a comprehensive, systematic and proactive approach to conserve the full array of Nebraska’s biological diversity for generations to appreciate.

The Legacy conservation strategy includes specific wildlife, as well as habitats in identified BULs. Focal sites are based on occurrences of target species and ecological communities that have a high probability of persisting long-term. Sites are selected from across the range of distribution of the species or community to capture important variation. Biologists aim to conserve multiple populations of each target species and occurrences of each ecological community. The Legacy Project has supported numerous projects across the state to address the threats to biological diversity. To name a few examples:

• Prescribed fire is a management tool used to increase native grassland plant diversity in Nebraska’s prairie landscapes
• Removal of aggressive plants such as eastern red cedars has allowed for improved wildlife habitat conditions in the Niobrara Valley, Loess Canyons, Wildcat Hills, and many other BULs
• Biologists and volunteers surveyed the aquatic diversity of Verdigris and Bazile Creeks to assess water quality
• Outreach and environmental education programs reach out regularly to Nebraska students and communities in an effort to share ideas about how to keep common species common and help species that are at-risk rebound.