Wildlife surveys and inventories are essential activities for the management of the states natural resources bythe nebraska game parks commission

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded a $1,232,200 Formula Grant under the Wildlife Restoration and Basic Hunter Education program (CFDA 15.611) to the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission for the July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 performance period. The grant supports wildlife surveys and inventories to inform the management of Nebraska's diverse wildlife resources, including game species, migratory birds, and threatened/endangered species. The grant activities emphasize efficient monitoring techniques that can be deployed across the state's large, predominantly private lands to gather data on multiple species simultaneously. A sub-award of $xxx,xxx was made to the University of Georgia Research Foundation to assist with the wildlife survey and inventory work.

Nebraska is blessed with abundant wildlife, from very popular game species to continentally important populations of migrant birds to nationally important threatened and endangeredspecies. The starting point for managing this precious heritage is an informed perspective on the abundance, distribution, and population trends for every species concerned. In some cases, we have conducted surveys formany years without substantial changes, while in others we are implementing new surveys to either (1) broaden ourscope and bring in species not previously considered or (2) deepen our knowledge of species monitored in thepast. Because of the states size, the wide-spread distribution of diverse wildlife throughout IT, and thepredominantly private ownership of wildlife habitat (less than 3% of the state is in public ownership), oursurvey and monitoring activities emphasize techniques that can be efficiently employed over a large area, withpublic cooperation whenever beneficial, and designed to provide useful information on several wildlife speciessimultaneously when possible.