Nebraska Bird Partnership

Summer is a busy time of year for everyone in the conservation business, and it is no exception here at the Nebraska Bird Partnership.  Here's just a taste of what we have going on:

• Nebraska Bird Conservation Plan Development:  The Science Advisory Workgroup (made up of state ornithologists and avian ecologists) met in June to review the species information and models that underpin our proposed bird population goals and habitat objectives.  We have a "Strategies Summit" scheduled in July where we will begin to develop broad strategies to achieve our goals and objectives.
• Steering Committee:  The Steering Committee's next quarterly meeting is July 23rd at the Nebraska Nature and Visitors Center.
• Nebraska Bird Library:  The Education Workgroup is finishing up construction on a new website that will offer an online bird guide to ALL Nebraska birds, including photos and range maps.  The website will provide information to anyone with an interest in Nebraska birds, and will serve as a companion to our bird education website, projectbeak.org.
• Rivers and Wildlife Celebration:  Yes, we have already had our first planning meeting for next year's Rivers and Wildlife Celebration, scheduled for March 17th-20th, 2011.  We plan to expand on the fabulous success of last year's first ever Wild Experience Room, which targeted families and kids.  We also plan to reach out more to locals to let them know what's going on and how they can participate.
• Capacity Building Grant Program:  Proposals for 2011 capacity building grants were due today (sorry to those of you that just realized you missed the deadline).  The Grants Committee will meet in July to review and make recommendations to the Steering Committee for approval.
• Greater Prairie-Chicken:  We completed analysis of the 2010 data collected by volunteers to evaluate the quality of the model developed in partnership with the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture to predict occurrence of Greater Prairie-Chicken in eastern Nebraska.  The model performed great!  Thank you to the volunteers that made a contribution to our monitoring and research efforts.

Any questions, or want to get involved?  Contact Jill at 308-382-6468 x24 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .