The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture

The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture Annual Report October 1, 2006-September 30, 2007

Coordinator, Steve Moran Management Board Kirk Nelson, Chair Nebraska Game & Parks Commission The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture Since 1992, partners in the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture have worked together to conserve and restore migratory habitat for the millions of waterfowl and other birds that depend on this region s wetlands. The Rainwater Basin region spans seventeen counties and 4,200 square miles in south-central Nebraska. Now principally an agricultural landscape, the area was once dotted with some 4,000 shallow, rain-fed wetlands, many under an acre in size. In the second half of the twentieth century, the number of functioning wetlands declined dramatically in the Rainwater Basin and across the United States, due to urban growth and development, and agriculture. This loss of habitat threatened the future of the continent s waterfowl populations, and led to the creation of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. From NAWMP came a continent-wide network of Joint Ventures, public-private partnerships dedicated to waterfowl habitat conservation. In the Rainwater Basin, this cooperative effort includes federal and state agencies; conservation organizations; natural resources districts; local government bodies; and, the lynchpin in any habitat project, the landowner. All Joint Venture projects are voluntary, so it is ultimately the landowner who makes the choice for conservation. Steve Adair, Ph. D. Ducks Unlimited Carl Andersen Clay County Landowner Peter Berthelsen Pheasants Forever Marvin Brown Natural Resources Conservation Service Ardell Epp Hamilton County Landowner Gloria Erickson Phelps County Landowner Mace Hack The Nature Conservancy Michael Onnen Little Blue Natural Resources District Jay Slack U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Randy Stinnette Clay County Landowner Technical Committee Ted LaGrange Nebraska Game & Parks Commission Andy Bishop U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Keith Brus Pheasants Forever Kenny Dinan U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Steve Donovan Ducks Unlimited Gene Mack U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Ritch Nelson Natural Resources Conservation Service Chris Rundstrom The Nature Conservancy John Thorburn Tri-Basin Natural Resources District Mark Vrtiska, Ph. D. Nebraska Game & Parks Commission

The Year in Review Two long-term initiatives influenced and motivated much of the work Joint Venture partners undertook in the 2007 fiscal year. First, we began the process of updating the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture Implementation Plan. Our habitat goals in our original 1992 Implementation Plan called for restoring and protecting 25,000 acres of wetland habitat and 25,000 acres of adjacent upland habitat. Technological innovations since 1992 make us better able to assess the quantity and quality of available habitat, and to estimate the number of birds using migratory habitat. We are engaged in a multiyear effort to collect this information, and factor in the caloric needs of migrating birds, to determine more accurately the amount of migratory habitat required in the Rainwater Basin. Our goals and Implementation Plan will be revised according to the results. In our second major initiative we continued to promote the Working Landscapes concept, and the use of conservation easements to perpetually protect restored wetlands and grasslands. An overview of Working Landscapes is on page 4. In late 2006, the Management Board approved the formation of a Conservation Planning work group, a committee whose members have the biological and technical expertise to help plan, prioritize, and direct the research and monitoring necessary to identify and achieve Rainwater Basin habitat needs. In January 2007, with the help of Tri-Basin NRD, we achieved a turning point in the Working Landscapes initiative. Tri-Basin accepted its first conservation easement on a Kearney County property that Ducks Unlimited had acquired as an initial Working Landscapes project. We appreciate the willingness of Tri-Basin and other partners to hold and monitor conservation easements on Joint Venture projects. Joint Venture coordinator Steve Moran and Management Board members Kirk Nelson and Gloria Erickson visited Washington, D.C. in February to represent the Joint Venture to our legislators. They also spoke with federal agency personnel, to urge inclusion of a grazing provision for the Wetland Reserve Program in the next Farm Bill. Also in February, we hosted the 12 th annual Rainwater Basin Joint Venture Informational Seminar. This seminar provides an opportunity for natural resource professionals, researchers, and landowners to interact and share ideas. Included in the 2007 seminar were presentations by the Joint Venture s two wetland consultants, whose positions were funded by an Environmental Protection Agency grant. At the meeting, it was announced that Joe Hultquist, our consultant in the west basins, would retire in March, and the remainder of the funding for his position would be used to extend the employment of Tim Horst, the east basin consultant. For the third time in four years, we conducted an Aerial Habitat Survey in the spring. The surveys document habitat conditions, including wetland vegetation and the amount of open water. After seven years of drought, spring 2007 brought extended periods of rain to south-central Nebraska, filling wetlands and offering relief to many farmers. However, the rains also flooded some areas of marginal cropland that had been dry and farmable for several years; in some cases this provided an opportunity to discuss wetland programs with landowners.

In April, the Joint Venture, in cooperation with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, hosted a Wetland Restoration Workshop, presented by NRCS education and development staff. Funding for the workshop was provided by a Public Information and Education grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust. Also in April, the Rainwater Basin Habitat Conservation Project, a joint effort of Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever, won approval of a $1 million North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant. An excellent example of partner cooperation, this grant will help fund restoration work on state, federal, and private lands, and will provide matching dollars for NET grants. May, June, and July brought news of additional grants The Department of Agriculture announced in late June that the Joint Venture would receive $500,000 through an NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant to help fund the use of LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging Data) to collect elevation data on the southcentral Nebraska landscape. The highly-detailed elevation measurements that LIDAR can provide will be an invaluable tool in wetland restoration planning. A grant submitted to the Nebraska Environmental Trust for additional LIDAR funding was not approved in 2007, but we will re-apply in the next grant cycle, with hopes of future success. The Trust did, however approve the Rainwater Basin Conservation Easement Initiative in the amount of $750,000. These funds, matched by the DU/PF NAWCA grant, will help fund conservation easements and habitat restoration on properties in Franklin, Kearney, Phelps, and Fillmore Counties, adding 1400 acres of Working Landscapes in the region. In addition, the Trust funded the second year of the three-year Wetland Habitat Restoration, Protection and Enhancement Grant. The $300,000 for 2007 provides funding for habitat projects on private and public lands; for communication education and outreach; and for research and evaluation.. As always, the progress we make toward habit conservation each year is only possible through the cooperation of Rainwater Basin landowners and other Joint Venture partners. By finding common ground, while recognizing each other s priorities, we can work together to achieve our goals. Often, the first step in wetland restoration is tree removal; trees consume scarce water, and provide shelter and perches for waterfowl predators. Wet conditions in spring and summer 2007 provided breeding habitat for an exceptional variety of birds, including black terns at Funk WPA. A water-control structure is installed on a Seasonal Habitat Improvement Program site. SHIP compensates landowners who provide seasonal habitat by allowing water to pond temporarily on their cropped wetlands.

Income and Expenses Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2007 Income U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Allocation Total Allocation 363,517.00 Unexpended Allocation (1,437.00) Net Allocation 362,080.00 Grants Received in 2007 Nebraska Env. Trust (Conservation Easement Initiative) 750,000.00 Nebraska Env. Trust (Wetland Habitat Protection, Restoration & Enhancement, year 2) 300,000.00 2006 Grant Funds Remaining 5,518.41 USFWS Challenge Cost Share Agreement 28,250.00 Total Grants 1,083,768.41 Partner Contribution Ducks Unlimited - Operational Support 2,000.00 Total Income $1,447,848.41 Expenses U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Allocation Staff and Expense 228,980.00 Nebraska Community Foundation Cooperative Agreement Administration/Coordination 35,456.00 Communication, Education, and Outreach 28,644.00 Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation 20,000.00 Project Planning and Development 49,000.00 Total NCF Cooperative Agreement 133,100.00 Net USFWS Allocation 362,080.00 Grant Funds Committed or Spent Nebraska Env Trust (Conservation Easement Initiative) 750,000.00 Nebraska Env. Trust (Wetland Habitat) Research and Evaluation 134,707.68 Communication 6,300.00 Public Lands 51,520.08 Private Lands 97,990.65 Grant Administration 15,000.00 Total Wetland Habitat Grant 305,518.41 USFWS Challenge Cost Share Agreement Funds Committed or Expended 8,241.40 Funds Allocated, Projects not Completed 20,008.60 Total USFWS Challenge Cost Share 28,250.00 Total Grants 1,083,768.41 Partner Contribution - Ducks Unlimited Operational and Partnership Expenses 2,000.00 Total Expenses 1,447,848.41

Working Landscapes in the Rainwater Basin When Joint Venture partners restore a Rainwater Basin wetland, our job is only half done. To keep a wetland in a condition that benefits migratory birds requires additional effort. Highquality wetland habitat is characterized by early successional plant communities; these include plants with plentiful seed and nutritious tubers, such as smartweed, barnyard grass, and arrowhead. Before the Great Plains were settled, roving bison herds, wildfires, and drought-flood cycles kept Rainwater Basin plant communities in an early successional state. Today, land managers strive for similar results through prescribed fire, disking, haying, and livestock grazing. Without such disturbances, a playa-type wetland soon becomes choked with invasive plants such as cattail, bulrush, reed canary grass, or trees which have little or no food value, and obscure the open water that waterfowl and shorebirds seek. The Joint Venture s Working Landscapes Initiative addresses the challenge of wetland maintenance while helping Rainwater Basin landowners make a transition from irrigated cropland to non-irrigated grasslands. To participate in a Working Landscapes project, a landowner sells or donates a permanent conservation easement on a parcel of land that contains a wetland. The easement allows grazing or haying on the land, but precludes plowing, development, or wetland drainage. Joint Venture partners restore the wetland as necessary and plant the surrounding upland with high-diversity native seed. The advantages of the Working Landscape model are many-fold. The wetland is maintained not only by grazing cattle, but by the surrounding grassland buffer, which reduces sedimentation and chemical runoff. Nutrient-rich plants in the wetland benefit migratory waterfowl and shorebirds, while uplands provide nesting cover for resident grassland birds. Meanwhile, intensive vegetation management, instead of being a costly activity, becomes one that provides an economic return to the landowner.

2007 Partner Highlights The many contributions of Joint Venture partners each year would be difficult to enumerate. Here are some of the highlights from fiscal 2007: Pheasants Forever and Ducks Unlimited collaborated on a $1 million dollar grant from the North American Wetland Conservation Act. Proceeds will, among other things, help fund the Working Landscapes initiative, and serve as a match for the Nebraska Environmental Trust grant for Conservation Easements. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission wrote and is administering a $257,000 Environmental Protection Agency grant to investigate Rainwater Basin hydrology and evaluate sediment removal. The Commission is also administering a $275,000 EPA grant to fund two Wetland Coordinator positions in the Rainwater Basin. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contributed $363,517 to the Joint Venture s 2007 budget. The Service s Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District coordinated a program to collect native plant seed and distribute high-diversity seed mixes to conservation partners. NGPC and USFWS manage Waterfowl Production Areas and Wildlife Management Areas, publicly-owned lands that contribute to the Joint Venture s habitat goals. The Natural Resources Conservation Service administers the Wetland Reserve Program, and manages easements on hundreds of acres of wetland and upland habitat in the Rainwater Basin. All partners contribute the time, energy, and expertise of their personnel who attend committee meetings, collaborate on ideas, and cooperate on habitat projects. Our Major Funding Partner The Nebraska Environmental Trust, funded by the Nebraska Lottery, has been an invaluable source of funding for environmental conservation projects across Nebraska since 1994. In 2006, the Trust celebrated a milestone, having awarded a total of $100 million in grants. Awards are made in the areas of : Habitat, Surface and Ground Water, Waste Management, Air Quality, and Soil Management. In many instances NET grants provide the crucial local matching funds that make grantees, including the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture, eligible for substantial pools of federal grant dollars. The Joint Venture has benefited significantly from NET grants. The three-year Wetland Habitat Restoration, Protection and Enhancement Grant, which began in 2006, provides needed funds for a variety of habitat projects toward which our partners also contribute. Likewise, the 2007 award of $750,000 for the Rainwater Basin Conservation Easement Initiative will provide a lasting value to residents of the Rainwater Basin, by helping the Joint Venture partners demonstrate, on a broad scale, the feasibility of the Working Landscapes concept in habitat protection. The Nebraska Environment Trust is an asset to the state and a crucial partner in preserving Nebraska s natural resources.

Rainwater Basin Joint Venture Partners include: Rainwater Basin landowners Nebraska Environmental Trust Ducks Unlimited National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Natural Resources Conservation Service Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Pheasants Forever The Nature Conservancy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Local Natural Resources Districts County Highway Departments.and many other groups and individuals