Grand Island – The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture will host its 15th annual Informational Seminar on Wednesday, February 3, at the Quality Inn Convention Center in Hastings, Nebraska. The one-day seminar, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., is an opportunity for landowners, agriculture producers, natural resource professionals, and other interested individuals to share their ideas and learn about conservation issues, research, and habitat programs in south-central Nebraska’s Rainwater Basin region.An afternoon panel discussion will address a variety of conservation programs for private land, including the Wetlands Reserve Program, the Wetland Initiative Program, and the Working Landscapes initiative. Other sessions will include discussions about the role of wetlands in protecting water quality; management of vegetation in Rainwater Basin wetlands; and the benefits of filling unused irrigation pits. In addition, throughout the day, Rainwater Basin landowners who have participated in Joint Venture projects and other wetland programs will discuss their experiences.
The seminar is open to the general public. To register, please send an e-mail by January 30 to Shanda Weber at shanda.weber@ne.usda.gov; include name, organization, and mailing address. Or phone 402-463-6771 ext. 112. A $20 registration fee, payable at the door, covers all sessions, snacks, and a buffet lunch. Landowners and agriculture producers are invited to register free of charge.
January 6th, 2010
May 26, 2009
The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture will receive over $600,000 funding from the Nebraska Environmental Trust this year for four major grants supporting wildlife habitat projects in the Rainwater Basin.
The Wetland Habitat Restoration and Protection grant will contribute to a wide variety of habitat projects throughout the Rainwater Basin region, including incentive programs that assist private landowners with water and vegetation management in wetlands on their property. The first-year award for this grant is $400,000, with a potential for an additional $400,000 in the second year.
A Working Landscape Conservation Easement grant has been funded in the amount of $183,489. This grant will help Joint Venture partners restore and permanently protect wetlands and adjacent grasslands in the Rainwater Basin region. (more…)
June 22nd, 2009
April 1, 2009
Manomet, MA — The Executive Office of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) at Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences has announced the designation of Nebraska’s Rainwater Basin as its first Landscape of Hemispheric Importance.
The Rainwater Basin is 6,100-square-mile region of shallow playa wetlands located south of the Platte River in south-central Nebraska. In the spring and fall, millions of migratory birds pass through the region to feed and rest. Some of the 40 species of shorebirds that visit the Rainwater Basin include American Golden-Plovers, White-rumped Sandpipers, Sanderlings, Wilson’s Phalaropes, and Hudsonian Godwits that migrate each year between Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of South America, and the northernmost brink of Canada and Alaska. One species, the Buff-breasted Sandpiper, is especially dependent on the eastern Rainwater Basin, (more…)
May 6th, 2009
March 20, 2009
Steve Moran, former coordinator of the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture was one of six recipients of the 2009 Wetland Conservation Achievement Award from Ducks Unlimited. The awards, which recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the restoration and conservation of North America’s wetlands and waterfowl, were presented by DU’s executive vice president Don Young at the 74th annual North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Arlington, Virginia.
Moran retired from the Joint Venture in 2009, after fifteen years (more…)
May 5th, 2009
March 19, 2009
Washington, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today released the first ever comprehensive report on bird populations in the United States, showing that nearly a third of the nation’s 800 bird species are endangered, threatened, or in significant decline due to habitat loss, invasive species, and other threats.
At the same time, the report highlights examples, including many species of waterfowl, where habitat restoration and conservation have reversed previous declines, offering hope that it is not too late to take action to save declining populations.
“Just as they were when Rachel Carson published Silent Spring nearly fifty years ago, birds today are a bellwether of the health of land, water and ecosystems,” Salazar said. (more…)
May 5th, 2009
March 16, 2009
York, Nebraska – The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture hosted guests from the Nebraska Environmental Trust, Nebraska Legislature, and Nebraska congressional staffs at the 2009 Wetland Tour on March 16. The tour visited public and privately-owned wetland sites in the eastern Rainwater Basin.
In addition to seeing a variety of waterfowl, tour participants heard about the Joint Venture partners’ wetland conservation projects, including the Working Landscapes Initiative; a program to round out public wetland areas through land trades; and efforts to restore wetland hydrology by filling unused irrigation pits.
March 24th, 2009
January 30, 2009
Grand Island — Andy Bishop of Grand Island has been selected as the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture’s new Coordinator, beginning February 1. In his new role, Bishop will facilitate the cooperative efforts of landowners, conservation groups, government agencies and others to protect and restore migratory bird habitat in south-central Nebraska’s Rainwater Basin region.
A native of Kearney, Bishop earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in biology at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. Since 2003 he worked for the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture, and then for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Much of his work during that time involved developing biological and geographic models that help quantify the habitat needs of waterfowl migrating through this region, and target locations that will provide the greatest habitat value. (more…)
March 24th, 2009
14th Annual Rainwater Basin Joint Venture Informational Seminar, Tuesday, February 10th 2009.
Continue Reading January 22nd, 2009
January 16, 2009
GRAND ISLAND – After fifteen years as coordinator of the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture, Steve Moran said goodbye to co-workers and colleagues on January 9, at a retirement party at the Interstate Holiday Inn in Grand Island.
Dressed in Hawaiian shirts, many of the 130-plus guests shared stories from Moran’s early career as a field engineer for the USDA’s Soil Conservation Service (now Natural Resources Conservation Service), first in Ainsworth, and later in Grand Island.
But it was as Joint Venture Coordinator that Moran made an enduring mark on Nebraska’s conservation community. (more…)
January 21st, 2009
Steve Moran, coordinator of the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture, has been named as one of two U.S. recipients of the National Great Blue Heron Award. Sponsored by the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, the Great Blue Heron Award recognizes exceptional and enduring contributions to conservation of wetland habitat for the benefit of waterfowl and migratory birds.
Moran, a resident of Grand Island, has been the Joint Venture’s coordinator since 1994, and has been engaged in conservation projects and partnerships throughout south-central Nebraska’s Rainwater Basin region. He was nominated by Ted LaGrange, Wetland Program Manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, and Mark Vrtiska, NGPC’s Waterfowl Program Manager. (more…)
October 3rd, 2008
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