Niobrara Valley Preserve turns 25
On June 4, The Nature Conservancy will join ranchers, friends and neighbors on the 56,000-acre Niobrara Valley Preserve to celebrate 25 years of working, learning and growing in Nebraska's Niobrara Valley. "The Niobrara Valley Preserve is an outstanding example of how the Conservancy works at landscape scale, commits to long-term actions to secure tangible lasting results, and works in close collaboration with public partners and private landowners" said Conservancy President Steve McCormick. "The ground-breaking work in grassland management forged at the Niobrara has helped inform our prairie conservation efforts throughout the Great Plains and as far away as Brazil's Pantanal."
Bison on the Niobrara
Photo © Chris Helzer/TNC
The Conservancy's history along the banks of the Niobrara River in northcentral Nebraska began in 1980, when it acted on an opportunity to purchase some 58,000 acres of ranchland. The area is known as the "Biological Crossroads of the Great Plains" because three distinct types of grassland and woodland converge here: northern mixed-grass, tallgrass and sandhills prairie; and northern boreal, eastern deciduous and western coniferous forests. The Preserve protects a 25-mile stretch designated as a "National Scenic River."
Today, the Conservancy continues to take steps to safeguard the landscape's future. We are working to acquire conservation easements from willing landowners on the river's north bank to secure long-term protection of the Niobrara while keeping the land in private ownership. It is the Conservancy's hope that these efforts, along with the Preserve's ongoing stewardship activities and community outreach program, will ensure that this diverse and scenic resource is available to future generations.
"The 25th anniversary is but one brief moment in time for this ageless landscape," said Jim Luchsinger, the Conservancy's Middle Niobrara project director. "But it prompts us to reflect on how far we have come in our quest to preserve the Niobrara. It reminds us that here, the natural beauty and character of this place will endure well beyond the next 25 years, leaving a lasting legacy for future generations."
Over the past 25 years, the Conservancy has collaborated with public and private partners to make the Preserve a national model for grassland management. The Conservancy leases some 27,000 acres of grassland to local ranchers for cattle grazing. Bison were historically key shapers of the Niobrara and thus were reintroduced here in 1985. Today, two herds totaling several hundred head graze on portions of the Preserve.
Conservancy-led prescribed burns benefit some 600 species of prairie plants while active control programs thwart noxious or overly abundant plants like purple loosestrife and eastern redcedar. Aside from bison and cattle, the Preserve provides habitat for a wide variety of wildlife species including mule deer, bald eagles, Great Plains toad, ornate box turtle, many lined skink, American bittern, great blue heron, horned lark, belted kingfisher, ovenbird, sandhill crane, upland sandpiper, and whip-poor-will. As the biological crossroads of the Great Plains, the Niobrara is home to a staggering diversity of plants and animals. To date, 581 plant, 213 bird, 86 lichen, 70 butterfly, 44 mammal, 25 fish, 17 reptile and eight amphibian species have been recorded at the preserve.
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