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

The Nebraska Game & Parks Commission received a $1.23 million formula grant award from the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Fish and Wildlife Service Region 6 under the Wildlife Restoration and Basic Hunter Education and Safety program (CFDA 15.611) for the period July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. This award supports wildlife surveys and inventories, which serve as essential foundational activities for managing Nebraska's natural resources. Given the state's size, diverse wildlife populations spanning from game species to continentally important migratory birds to nationally significant threatened and endangered species, and the fact that less than 3% of Nebraska is publicly owned, the grant funds survey and monitoring activities designed to efficiently assess wildlife abundance, distribution, and population trends across large geographic areas while leveraging public cooperation where feasible.

Under this award, the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission established a sub-award with the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc. to support wildlife surveys and inventories activities. This formula grant allocation reflects the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act's statutory framework, which distributes federal funding to state fish and wildlife agencies based on established allocation methodologies to advance wildlife conservation, habitat management, and hunter education initiatives. The award enables Nebraska to continue both long-standing survey programs and implement new monitoring efforts to expand species coverage and deepen knowledge of previously monitored wildlife populations.

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.