OutdoorNebraska

32 2019 Annual Report • Wildlife N E W N E B R A S K A D U C K S L A M E X C I T E S H U N T E R S Building on the success of the Trout Slam and Upland Slam, the Commission partnered with Ducks Unlimited to launch the Duck Slam, a fun, new challenge to get new and lapsed hunters reinvigorated about hunting waterfowl and spending more days hunting. The Upland Slam remained extremely popular in its second year. The Duck Slam was created to provide hunters with a new challenge, while providing enticing prizes to do so. Waterfowl hunters have been a group that has been declining at alarming rates across the country. The challenge focuses on harvesting four different species during the season: mallard, northern pintail, American wigeon, and blue- or green-winged teal. Upon successful completion of the Slam, hunters would receive a Nebraska Duck Slam pin, an official certificate, and an opportunity at winning several great prizes. The Upland Slam, initiated during the 2018-19 season by the agency, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, challenged hunters to harvest all four of Nebraska's primary upland game birds in one season: sharp- tailed grouse, greater prairie-chicken, ring-necked pheasant and northern bobwhite. Harvest photos uploaded online were entries to drawings for prizes. The Slam was implemented to improve upland game hunter recruitment, retention and reactivation and raise awareness of Nebraska as the mixed-bag capital of the Great Plains. A D D R E S S I N G I M P A C T S O F I N V A S I V E C E D A R S As invasive eastern red cedar continues to encroach upon the grasslands of Nebraska, the agency, partners, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and a growing percentage of landowners are teaming up to try to maintain our prairies. This is taking place through programs on private and public lands and in grasslands and woodlands. In the eastern Sandhills, the agency is working with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Sandhills Task Force, Pheasants Forever, the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture, other partners and private landowners to try to keep the cedars from spreading farther west. Work has involved removal of low density and small cedars and has impacted over 70,000 acres of grasslands. Nebraska Natural Legacy Project staff and coordinating wildlife biologists are battling cedar across the state in woodlands along our major rivers and their associated bluffs, and in upland woodlands. These efforts impact over 60,000 acres per year through mechanical removal and prescribed fire. Additionally, the Commission works with UNL to research the impacts of cedar on the endangered American burying beetles, prairie grouse, grassland birds and other wildlife. Dr. Dirac Twidwell has assisted us with documenting impacts, creating messages and resources to explain the urgency of the situation, and is helping us be more effective in the fight against cedars. Prescribed fire is an effective tool for managing invasive cedars.

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