LINCOLN (AP) — The hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes that stopover in central Nebraska every year help bring millions of dollars to the region.
That's the conclusion of a report released on Monday by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Bureau of Business Research. It says the annual economic impact of the birds is more than $10.3 million.
The figure includes spending by conservation and research centers that focus on the birds' migration, and spending by those who visit the centers.
One of the centers cited in the report is the Audubon Rowe Sanctuary near Gibbon.
About 500,000 sandhill cranes, which is 90 percent of the species' worldwide population, rest along the Platte River from mid-February to mid-April.
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