OutdoorNebraska

46 2022 Annual Report • Conservation R a n c h e r s p a r t n e r o n s u r v e y t o f i n d U t e l a d i e s ' - t r e s s e s In the summer of 2022, Nebraska Game and Parks and the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies had the chance to reassess Nebraska's population of the federally threatened Ute ladies'-tresses orchid. Their surveys took place in the Niobrara River valley in Sioux County, where the orchids grow in moist, alkaline meadows. While on site, a rancher mentioned his meadow was home to Ute ladies'-tresses. His shared enthusiasm for the plant and for its conservation resulted in the rancher voluntarily moving his cattle off the meadow in early summer so surveys could be conducted for the late-blooming orchid. Biologists ultimately found 898 blooming orchids at the two adjacent ranch sites and recorded GPS points for each. Though the total number of flowering Ute ladies'-tresses found in 2022 is a steep decline from the thousands recorded in 1997, one of the ranches showed an increase in the number of orchids since 2010. Threats to the orchid include conversion of meadows to cropland, reduced stream flows and groundwater levels, timing of grazing or haying, and invasion of nonnative grasses. The survival of the Ute ladies'- tresses will depend, in large part, on finding common ground between the needs of the species and the needs of producers. Game and Parks' goal is to continue to work with the ranchers whose properties contain the orchid to find management practices that benefit the rare plant without hurting the ranchers' bottom line. S t u d y i n g s o u t h e r n f l y i n g s q u i r r e l s Nebraska has a new population of southern flying squirrels in Lincoln, and Nebraska Game and Parks is working to find out more about them and where they came from. The southern flying squirrel is a state-threatened species with a range within Nebraska previously limited to wooded areas in the extreme southeast. A population at Indian Cave State Park has been monitored for years. Together with Nebraska Wildlife Rehabilitation, Game and Parks, the University of Nebraska- Omaha, and Southeast Community College's Career Academy launched an education program for high school students to study southern flying squirrels. So far, students have learned the basic biology and behaviors of flying squirrels and have built more than 20 nest boxes to replace older ones at Indian Cave State Park. Data collected from this work will be used to advance our understanding of flying squirrels in the state. Ute ladies'-tresses

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