GIBBON, Neb. — Other than waves of ducks, geese and sandhill cranes, not much went over U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s head during his Nebraska visit last week.
Salazar toured portions of south-central Nebraska’s Rainwater Basin and the Platte River that serve as vital stopover areas for millions of migrating birds.
He balanced on the edge of a half-submerged wetlands culvert with the ease of the Colorado farm boy he once was. He stood on a sandy riverbank of a wet meadow restoration project at Rowe Sanctuary that will provide habitat for sandhill cranes and other wildlife.
He chronicled the contributions of Ducks Unlimited, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and Tri-Basin Natural Resources District and others in conserving and restoring habitat in the region.
He reminisced about his years at Colorado’s attorney general, arguing the state’s case before the U.S. Supreme Court in the still contentious Republican River dispute between Kansas and Nebraska — and helping establish the state and federal agreement that established flows in the Platte for endangered species.
But one thing perplexed Salazar after peering at waterfowl on a wetland at Funk Waterfowl Production Area southwest of Kearney. He turned to Gene Mack, who leads the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Rainwater Basin activities.
“Why is this named ‘Funk?’’’ Salazar asked.
It’s named for the town over there, Mack said with a wave toward the southwest.
How did Funk get its name? Salazar persisted.
“There are a fair number of Funks in Nebraska,’’ Mack replied.
That satisfied Salazar.
Then he was off to Clark Waterfowl Production Area, where he put an arm around landowner Steve Nelson of Axtell and shared barley, potato and corn prices and how Russian olive trees planted years ago by farmers turned out to be invasive nuisances.
Salazar stopped Monday in Nebraska to highlight the work of the Fish and Wildlife Service, private landowners and many other partners in working to protect, restore, enhance and manage Rainwater Basin wetlands.
The basin is a complex of wetlands scattered across a 6,200-square-mile region covering all or parts of a 17-county area south of the Platte in south-central Nebraska. The wetlands are shallow basins that provide resting and feeding areas for birds during spring and fall migration. Millions of birds — including endangered whooping cranes and an estimated 500,000 sandhill cranes — funnel into the basin on their northward migration each spring.
Salazar said agricultural and road development during the past century altered these migration habitats, making it critical for the Fish and Wildlife Service and its landowner and state partners to work together to conserve the region for the great migration.
The conservation partnerships created in Nebraska reflect the heart and soul of President Barack Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, Salazar said.
“The Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District is a model for conservation in the 21st century, built from the ground up and with a view toward healthy lands, waters, wildlife and economies,’’ he said.
The Fish and Wildlife Service has established 60 waterfowl production areas covering 24,000 acres on land sold by willing sellers across the basin. Despite the success, the region has 6,000 fewer acres of wetlands than it did in 1980, Mack told Salazar.
Salazar acknowledged that crop production pressures would make it even more challenging for wetlands conservation projects in the future.
Nelson thanked Salazar for stopping in Nebraska.
“It’s a way to learn,’’ Salazar said. “Washington doesn’t have all the answers.’’
A few hours later — like tens of thousands of others from around the world each spring — Salazar spent a few hours on the Platte under the spell of sandhill cranes as waves of the migrating birds returned to the shallow river to roost in wetlands and on sandbars for the night.
Great Nebraska Duck Hunt to start this fall
Kids, there’s a new waterfowl-hunting initiative coming for the fall season.
Ducks Unlimited and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission are in the early stages of starting an innovative program to help create new duck and goose hunters and good citizens.
They’re calling it the Great Nebraska Duck Hunt.
The idea is for each of Nebraska’s 88 DU chapters to take at least 10 boys and girls under a wing and teach them how to be safe, responsible and ethical hunters. Projects, such as painting decoys, would begin this summer. Other activities would include shooting practice, meeting landowners for permission to hunt and scouting places to hunt.
Aaron Hershberger of Game and Parks updated DU members at the state chapter convention in Grand Island. More than 200 people attended the gathering’s closing banquet, featuring a talk by U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com
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