Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
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Great Plains Grassland Initiative seeks to remove cedars
Game and Parks and many conservation partners are working to create large areas of cedar-free grasslands
as part of the Great Plains Grassland Initiative.
Areas of focus include:
•
About 70,000 acres north of Maxwell, where the only cedars still standing are five shelter belts
landowners have agreed to control from spreading.
•
About 142,000 acres in the eastern Sandhills, which have been treated for cedar removal over the past
seven years.
•
Federal lands in the Sandhills, including McKelvie and Halsey national forests and the Valentine National
Wildlife Refuge, where cedars are to be removed.
•
Acres in the southwestern corner of the state, northwestern Custer County and the western Sandhills.
•
Nebraska's Biologically Unique Landscapes, those designated as priority landscapes for conservation for
their role in supporting the state's at-risk species and its biological diversity.
•
Acres under landowner cooperatives' or prescribed burn associations' purview that are essential for the
future success of this initiative.
Partners in the Initiative include Pheasants Forever, Sandhills Task Force, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Great Plains Audubon, Rainwater Basin Joint Venture, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, The Nature
Conservancy, Northern Prairies Land Trust, the University of Nebraska and many others.
A Sandhills prairie bison
pasture at the Niobrara
Valley Preserve.
