NWTF Project Receives Financial Boost from Nebraska Environmental Trust
National Wild Turkey Federation 05.13.14
The National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) was recently awarded $78,837 from the Nebraska Environmental Trust (NET) for Forest Stand Restoration on Pine Ridge Wildlife Management Areas project. It is one of 132 projects receiving a combined $21,750,000 in grants from the NET this year.
The forest stand improvement project for four western wildlife management areas (Metcalf, Ponderosa, Gilbert Baker, and Chadron Creek Ranch) is a joint effort by the NWTF, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the Nebraska Forest Service.
Project goals include habitat restoration for wildlife species, specifically five at-risk Tier 1 species (including bighorn sheep) and 45 Tier II species, reducing the threat of large-scale catastrophic wildfires and testing innovative forest management techniques. Recent wildfires along the Niobrara River and the Pine Ridge are a vivid reminder what could be at stake without active management.
“This project is of importance to the NWTF’s lasting commitment of conserving and maintaining wildlife habitat across the entire Black Hills-Pine Ridge focal landscape, a region that covers portions of Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming,” said Jared McJunkin, NWTF conservation field supervisor for the Great Plains District. “The project also includes an outreach-educational component for sharing successes and knowledge gained with landowners and land managers of similar properties.”
The Nebraska Legislature created the NET in 1992. Using revenue from the Nebraska lottery, the trust has provided over $213 million in grants to citizens, organizations, communities, farmers and businesses to fund over 1,600 projects across the state. The NET works to preserve, protect and restore our natural resources for future generations.
The National Wild Turkey Federation is the leader in upland wildlife habitat conservation in North America. The NWTF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving the wild turkey and preserving our hunting heritage.
Through dynamic partnerships with state, federal and provincial wildlife agencies, the NWTF and its members have helped restore wild turkey populations throughout North America, spending more than $331 million to conserve nearly 16 million acres of habitat. Wild turkeys and hundreds of other species of upland wildlife, including quail, deer, grouse, pheasant and songbirds, benefit from this improved habitat.
The NWTF also brings new conservationists and hunters into the fold through outdoor education events and its Women in the Outdoors, Wheelin' Sportsmen, JAKES and Xtreme JAKES youth outreach programs. Our dedicated NWTF volunteers introduce about 100,000 people to the outdoors through these programs every year.
Founded in 1973, the NWTF is headquartered in Edgefield, S.C., and has local chapters in every state and Canada. According to many state and federal agencies, the restoration of the wild turkey is arguably the greatest conservation success story in North America's wildlife history.
