Project Area
The Central Platte River in Nebraska was once a braided river more than a mile wide with interspersed sandbars. This river corridor, and the surrounding grasslands, wetlands, and riparian forests, provided extensive habitat for sandhill cranes and other wildlife. This landscape has been extensively altered through agricultural land conversion, fire suppression, flood control, elimination of bison, and other factors. The Central Platte River Valley still provides critical habitat for wildlife in the region, including about half a million cranes during seasonal migration in the spring. The group focused on a portion of the Central Platte River Valley located southwest of Grand Island, NE, running roughly 20 km long, bordered by Interstate 80 to the north and agricultural land to the south.
Management Goals
Staff from The Nature Conservancy, Crane Trust, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission worked together to develop this project idea, and therefore the management goals represent the overlapping priorities of these organizations. Broadly, the goals of this project are to 1) improve wildlife habitat for sandhill cranes and other wildlife; 2) promote habitat-compatible agricultural practices; and 3) demonstrate benefits to farmers and ranchers in the area, such as increased cattle forage, greater crop yield, and reduced fertilizer and other input costs.
Specific objectives included:
- increase meadow cover to greater than 30% and reduce woodland cover to less than 30% of the area within 800 meters of the river
- increase average river channel width to over 200m in the project area
- improve soil fertility in agricultural fields
- convert 40% of the row crop fields in the project area to crane-friendly crops such as wheat, barley, alfalfa, and corn.
Climate Change Impacts
Group members considered a range of regional climate change trends and how these trends might impact riparian wildlife habitat and agricultural practices in the project area. Broadly, it appears that
Warmer winters leading to shifts in crane migration and overwintering patterns
Reduced ice jams that help maintain the river's open, wide-braided character
Increased pressures from insect pests and cool-season invasive plants.
More variable snowpack in the mountains and warmer winters leading to shifting timing of floods and scouring action.
More low-flow days in the summer leading to vegetation encroachment in the river channel
Adaptation Actions
Project participants used the Adaptation Workbook and the draft Wildlife Adaptation Menu to develop several adaptation actions for this project, including:
Area/Topic
Approach
Tactics
Agricultural Practices
Encourage no-till agriculture and cover crops in the Central Platte River watershed.
Promote “precision agriculture” techniques to reduce inputs of fuel, fertilizer, and water.
8.1. Manage for plant species diversity and complexity
9.2. Create new sources of food, water, and cover in anticipation of future conditions
11.3. Manage private lands near and between protected lands (buffer zones)
9.2. Create new sources of food, water, and cover in anticipation of future conditions
11.3. Manage private lands near and between protected lands (buffer zones)
Replace conventional row crops with native meadow species or alternative crops that may provide a greater variety of food sources over a longer seasonal timeframe.
Conservation Practices
8.3. Prioritize native vegetation and suitable site conditions for habitat management and restoration
10.1. Create large, intact, or aggregated protected areas
10.8. Protect sites that are expected to provide future suitable habitat
10.1. Create large, intact, or aggregated protected areas
10.8. Protect sites that are expected to provide future suitable habitat
Identify suitable parcels of private land to protect under conservation easements. Emphasize areas that could be restored to native meadow cover with rest, re-seeding, and tree removal.
Create disturbances at suitable seasons to boost floristic quality and biodiversity in meadows, such as grazing in the winter and prescribed fire in the summer as opposed to spring.
Partnerships and Outreach
13.2. Provide access for wildlife-dependent recreation
13.3. Increase local community involvement in wildlife management
13.3. Increase local community involvement in wildlife management
Establish wildlife-viewing stations and parking lots for tourists to view cranes and other wildlife. Work with local landowners to provide compensation for access.
Working with the US Bureau of Reclamation and other river stakeholders to manage for a more natural flow regime with high-flow periods as well as a minimum base flow.
Monitoring
The project team identified a few monitoring variables that might reveal the effectiveness of the proposed adaptation actions. It would be helpful to regularly monitor the acres of meadow and woodland in the project area to track progress toward landcover objectives, in addition to monitoring the acreage of wildlife-friendly agricultural practices being employed. It would also be important to monitor fuel and fertilizer consumption trends for farmers engaging in these practices to demonstrate a reduced input cost for precision agricultural methods. Monitoring the population of sandhill cranes as well as the arrival and departure dates would help track potential shifts in the migratory pattern and inform the timing of grazing and other actions.
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Keywords
Wildlife habitat