The connection may not be obvious...at first. Yet over 95% of Nebraska's land base is privately owned farms and ranches -- split roughly evenly between cropland and ranch land. Less than 2% of Nebraska's land base is publicly owned parks, recreation areas, national grasslands and forests, wildlife management areas, and wildlife refuges. We cannot have healthy fish and wildlife populations in Nebraska without addressing wildlife on farms and ranches.

Farmers and ranchers face a host of financial and other problems. High property taxes, wide swings in prices for the goods they produce, the growing cost of inputs like fertilizer, fuel, and pest control, and the increasing concentration in both suppliers and commodity buyers pinch family farmers and ranchers in the middle.

The federal Farm Bill drives day to day decisions on most Nebraska farms, and federal farm conservation programs play a huge role in wildlife conservation on Nebraska farms and ranches.

Farm Bill conservation program funding in Nebraska -- more than $120 million in 2006 -- is by far the largest single source of money available for fish and wildlife habitat and conservation in the state.

The health of Nebraska's fish and wildlife populations rests, in large part, with the effectiveness and funding of those federal farm conservation programs. They help farmers and ranchers afford to be better stewards of our natural resources.

The USDA Conservation Reserve Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, and Grassland Reserve Program provide 1.3 million acres of  wildlife habitat in Nebraska -- more than all the federal, state and local parks, grasslands, forests and refuges put together!

 The 2002 Farm Bill promised substantial increases in conservation program funding, but Congress largely failed to deliver on that promise. In 2007, Congress is writing a new Farm Bill, and farm and ranch stewardship programs need to be a centerpiece of the legislation. 

Yet the structural problems in Nebraska agriculture cannot be cured through better farm conservation programs alone. The future health of Nebraska farmers and ranchers, rural communities, and rural resources will require more basic, structural changes.

Working for Wildlife...Working for You!

● The Nebraska Wildlife Federation is at the forefront of efforts to improve Farm Bill conservation programs, to make them as effective and efficient as possible in promoting wildlife and wildlife habitat in Nebraska. The Federation is also working with progressive farm and rural community organizations to support more basic change in the structure of agriculture in Nebraska.

● NEWF is a member of the Midwest Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, which develops Farm Bill policy options that benefit wildlife, family farmers, and rural communities. We also work with the National Wildlife Federation, and with NWF state affiliates around the country on farm policy.

● The Nebraska Wildlife Federation provides advice to the US Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, through the NRCS State Technical Committee. We  help ensure that federal tax dollars spent in Nebraska provide the most benefit possible for fish and wildlife in our state.

Nebraska's agricultural industry also has other far-reaching impacts on Nebraska's natural resources. We don't shy away from tough issues, but work cooperatively to find solutions.

Nearly every major river in Nebraska is polluted, by some combination of pesticides, nutrients, bacteria, and sediment, from farm fields, livestock operations, factories, powerplants, and municipal wastewater and stormwater systems. NEWF is working to ensure that the State of Nebraska lives up to its responsibility to make Nebraska's rivers and lakes swimmable and fishable once more.

Extensive irrigation in Nebraska has dried up streams like Pumpkin Creek and Frenchman Creek. NEWF is continues its work to protect remaining river flows that are critical for fish, wildlife, and recreation, and to begin to restore critical river flows. Click Here for more information.

Photo Credits: Whitetail by John Stehn, USFWS, pheasants by Roger Hill, USDA NRCS; irrigated field by Duane Hovorka.