Land management for pollinators

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is subdivided into four management districts. Each of these districts have staff on hand who are willing to provide assistance regarding habitat management and land restoration. Managers may also help direct you to financial incentives for your project under various programs. 

Coordinating Wildlife Biologists work to implement the Nebraska Natural Legacy Project’s goals. They work with a variety of partners to deliver voluntary, incentive-based conservation actions. Natural Legacy’s projects are designed to benefit wildlife and meet landowner objectives. Conservation work is performed also on public ground to improve habitat for many wildlife species.

Through its ability to design conservation program seeding mixtures, the selling of seed mixtures, and promoting a “Habitat Standard,” Pheasants Forever, Inc. (PF) designs, sells, and plants ~50 million milkweed seeds in the state each year. On an annual basis, PF impacts 190,000 acres of grasslands (planting high quality habitat and managing existing grasslands with prescribed fire and other practices). PF works toward the development of a ‘High Quality Habitat Standard’ that is promoted and applied to habitat projects in the state. PF has many conservation programs that establish and manage high quality grasslands. 

Ducks Unlimited, Inc., strives to permanently protect and restore wetlands and associated upland habitat that not only benefits waterbirds but also benefits many upland bird and insect species. When completing a wetland restoration project, they restore associated upland habitat as well by planting a high-diversity seed mixture, which includes grasses, forbs, and milkweeds. They protect and provide thousands of acres of upland habitat across the state for monarchs, pollinators, and numerous other wildlife species. Although they work across the entire state, their primary focus is in the Rainwater Basin and along the Platte River. Their work is perpetuating pollinators in the uplands and wetlands on projects through high-diversity seed planting and moist soil management. Their plan is to continue with their successful mission to restore waterfowl habitat, but they have already begun including more milkweed seed in their seed mixtures to increase the benefit of their projects to target species like monarchs. 

The Nebraska Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program (NE PFW) focuses its efforts in ecosystems or landscapes where their efforts will accomplish the greatest biological benefits per conservation dollar expended. They focus their efforts on restoring and maintaining the functionality of natural communities and ecological systems. Their main emphasis continues to be to restore wetland, grassland, riverine, and riparian habitat on private lands; and working with private landowners and other partners to restore and protect priority habitats to increase and maintain federal trust species population. Projects are prioritized, planned, and designed to address current stresses, such as invasive species, habitat fragmentation, lack of fire, changes in hydrologic regimes, and grassland conversion. The NE PFW continues to work with partners to provide high quality prairie, wetland, and riparian habitats for monarchs and other pollinators, grassland nesting birds, migratory waterbirds, federal listed species, and the numerous other species of plants and animals that depend on these systems for their survival.

The Nebraska Wildlife Federation is a non-profit organization dedicated to Nebraska’s wildlife and wild places. They are proud to be the Nebraska affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation, the nation’s largest member-supported wildlife organization. Their work supports education, fish and wildlife conservation, and public policy programs. They collaborate closely with the National Wildlife Federation on national issues and programs that impact Nebraska.