| Fast Facts |
location
90 miles west of Lincoln
ecoregion
Central Mixed Grass Prairie
project size
358,000 acres
preserves
Anderson, Brown, Cavney, Derr/Dahms, McCormick, Studnicka
partners
Prairie Plains Resource Institute, Platte River Whooping Crane Trust, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, National Audubon Society, Rowe Sanctuary, Nebraska Environmental Trust Fund, ConAgra Foundation, Peter Kiewit Foundation, Kellogg Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Environmental Protection Agency
conservancy initiatives
Freshwater
natural events
sandhill crane migration, March; whooping crane and waterfowl migration, February and March | |
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Conservationists mimic the essential role of seasonal flooding in the Platte River ecosystem as part of an effort to restore sandhill crane habitat. |
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Sandhill cranes roosting on river sandbars at dawn.
© Scott T. Smith |
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From high in the Rockies, melting snow descends onto the plains, amassing into what becomes the Platte River. The river weaves its way across Nebraska like a pushed rope, bending in numerous shallow braided channels. Sandy islands emerge among the plaits, with wet meadows and scattered trees lining the banks. For millennia, spring floods scoured the sandbars, creating ideal treeless roosting habitat for migrating birds. Milder summer flows then exposed the sandbars, offering ample space for nesting and feeding.
Half a million sandhill cranes—90 percent of their entire population—visit the Platte each spring to rest and feed on corn, snails, earthworms and insects before migrating north. Joined by millions of ducks, geese and other birds, even endangered whooping cranes, the sandhills congregate along Big Bend Reach in south-central Nebraska. This 80-mile curving stretch of the river is the “pinch in the hourglass” of the Great Plains Flyway, which funnels birds between Canada and Texas. When they gather at dusk to roost, their calls are likened to a crowded football stadium. Cranes have been stopping at the Platte for thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of years, based on clues contained in prehistoric fossils.
Yet, today, less than half of the Platte’s open, braided river habitat remains. Dams and water diversions in Wyoming, Colorado and western Nebraska have reduced water flows and floods, and in their absence, willow, eastern red cedar and cottonwood forests have taken root on sandbars. Not only has this unique bird habitat been lost, but reduced flows have also lowered groundwater levels beneath the wet meadows, drying out other essential habitat for migratory birds.
To ensure that the sandhills and other avian visitors have a place to return to, The Nature Conservancy and our partners are working to restore critical habitat along the Platte. Employing a combination of prescribed burning and manual tree removal, we are mimicking the tree-clearing process once triggered by seasonal floods in the hopes that wet meadows and prairie will re-emerge and continue to host this annual migratory phenomenon for generations to come.
Learn more about The Nature Conservancy's work in Nebraska. |
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| Conservation Profile |
targets
Platte River, migratory waterbirds like the sandhill crane, whooping crane, interior least tern, piping plover, ducks, geese; grassland species like the bobolink and sedge wren
stresses
hydrologic alteration, land conversion, invasive species, fire suppression, sand and gravel extraction, residential development
strategies
restore ecosystems, employ fire management, engage community in natural resource management, influence land-use planning, secure conservation easements, promote compatible development
results
3,000 acres protected within Big Bend Reach | | | | |
