Tallgrass Prairie Project

 

Whooper Watch

Nebraska has lost some 98% of the 15 million acres of native tallgrass prairie that once dominated the eastern one-third of the state. The loss of tallgrass prairie in other states is equally staggering. Remaining areas of Nebraska tallgrass prairie -- perhaps 300,000 acres in all -- are scattered, owned by a variety of private, public, and non-profit entities, and managed for a number of different primary goals, from livestock production to environmental education.

Wildlife that depend upon this ecosystem, including many grassland bird species, are on the decline, and a number of state or federally protected species depend upon our declining tallgrass prairie.

The threats to remnant tallgrass prairies are diverse as well, including suburban and urban development, enroaching non-native species or native woody species, overgrazing, conversion to row-crop agriculture, and introduction of non-native species for forage production. In some cases, financial pressures are driving these changes, but in others, ignorance of the biological value of tallgrass prairie or a lack of knowledge about proper management of prairie is the key challenge.

The solutions are also diverse and vary from parcel to parcel: careful inventory and mapping of remnant prairies, development and implementation of grazing management plans, re-introduction of fire, development easements, purchases from willing sellers, eradication of non-native species and refining techniques of tallgrass prairie management.

The Nebraska Wildlife Federation (NEWF) helped form and is a member of the Nebraska Tallgrass Prairie Partnership, a collection of non-profit organizations, nature centers, government agencies and individuals who value our historic tallgrass prairie legacy and are working to conserve remaining prairies. By bringing together individual landowners with the agencies, organizations and expertise available, as well as the programs available for tallgrass prairie preservation and management, we hope to boost the level of effort and effectiveness in preserving and even expanding the acres of tallgrass prairie in Nebraska, and improving the management of those acres.

 

NEWF’s Tallgrass Prairie Database

 

One missing ingredient to better planning and conservation of Nebraska’s remnant tallgrass prairies is a lack of knowledge about where the remnants are, how they are being managed, what condition they are in, and what interest the owner/managers have in prairie conservation.

The purpose of NEWF’s Tallgrass Prairie Habitat Database is to put in place a comprehensive database that can be used to catalog tallgrass prairie remnants in the 40 counties of eastern Nebraska that cover much of the historic range of tallgrass prairie. The database will be available to participating government agencies and organizations for use in tallgrass prairie planning and conservation efforts, including efforts to study, understand, preserve, protect, restore, and manage tallgrass prairie habitat and the wildlife species that depend upon it. The database information will include digitized GIS location indicators, as well information on the owners and managers, management objectives, historic use, prairie condition, and wildlife species present.

Working with other organizations and NEWF volunteers to collect information, we will respect the desires of landowners for privacy, by restricting the use of the individual information in the database. Information on publicly accessible prairies (like those on state Wildlife Management Areas) and semi-public prairies (nature centers) will be made available to the public so they can visit and appreciate a tallgrass prairie in their neighborhood.

 

 

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