Rainwater Basin Joint Venture receives grants for habitat programs

The Nebraska Environmental Trust has awarded the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture three grants that will help restore and protect wetlands and habitat in south Central Nebraska's Rainwater Basin region.

The first NET grant, totaling $588,000 over two years, will be matched by $800,000 in federal dollars from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The grant will help fund the South Central Nebraska LIDAR (Light Detection Ranging) project, coordinated by the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture.

The project will provide highly detailed elevation data of landscape that includes the Rainwater Basin and the central Platte and Republican rivers.

LIDAR uses laser technology to delineate watersheds by detecting the subtle variations in elevation that characterize much of the Rainwater Basin region, said Steve Moran, Rainwater Basin Joint Venture coordinator.

He said this information will help in planning and design of wetland conservation projects by Joint Venture partners.

Other organizations that will benefit from the data include the Platte River Recovery and Implementation Program and a consortium of natural resources districts.

Moran said the Joint Venture also received a $346,474 grant for a Working Landscape Easement project that will restore and permanently protect more than 300 acres of wetlands and grassland in Fillmore County.

He said the easement protects the restored grassland from being plowed or developed and the wetland from being drained but permits grazing and haying. The NET grant, Moran said, is intended to match a federal grant from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.

The trust also awarded $300,000 for the third year of the Joint Venture's Wetland Habitat Restoration, Protection and Enhancement grant, which provides for a variety of habitat projects throughout the Rainwater Basin region.

"The Nebraska Environmental Trust is extremely important to the Joint Venture," Moran said. "It's key to our ability to carry out the number of conservation projects we have and to serve the farmers we work with on a timely basis. The resource need is greater than can be funded by the Joint Venture or even Joint Venture partners."

The Rainwater Basin is a 4,200-square-mile area of shallow lakes, marshes and other wetlands in 17 counties south of the Platte River in south Central Nebraska. Each year, millions of migratory birds pass through the region to feed and rest. The Rainwater Basin, along with the Platte River, is a major component of the Central Flyway of North America.

The Rainwater Basin is especially important for ducks in the spring as they travel to the breeding grounds in the Dakotas, Montana and Canada.

Biologists estimate that 90 percent of the original 4,000 Rainwater Basin wetlands have been lost. Additionally, many of the remaining wetlands are in poor condition.

The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture is a public-private partnership created through the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.

The Nebraska Environmental Trust, funded by the Nebraska Lottery, provides grants to organizations and communities statewide to help protect and preserve Nebraska's natural resources.