When I was working for the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, we purchased a large piece of land between Lexington and Overton. We worked hand-in-hand with N.P.P.D. who had a large piece of land between Overton and Elm Creek.
The purpose of the two properties was to develop, enhance, and protect habitat for whooping cranes, sandhill cranes, and waterfowl. We more or less took orders from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as to what constituted that habitat. Basically, it was “cut down all the trees near the river”.
The trees along the river are called a “riparian forest”. These strips of forest running west to east across the state are crucial to the survival of “neotropical migrants”. These are forest birds that winter in the tropics and nest either here in Nebraska or …