OutdoorNebraska

In May, the Nebraska Game and Parks Outdoor Education Center opened in Lincoln. This family friendly indoor archery and shooting range is the first of its kind in the state, and its opening coincided with a national surge in youth interest in archery. With help from our partners, we were able to harness this excitement by hosting two free shooting sports events that drew thousands. We know that archery can be a pathway to a lifetime of outdoor recreation, and we're pleased to have a facility to help reach budding hunters, as well as archery and shooting enthusiasts. Construction on another shooting complex at Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area is set to begin in 2015. Attracting new participants in outdoor recreation is essential to what we do. As young people become outdoorsmen and women and engage in fishing, hunting, and target shooting, they also become invaluable partners in conservation. Federal excise taxes on fishing, hunting and shooting equipment shared among the 50 states are the major source of funding for conservation projects across Nebraska and the nation. Speaking of conservation, 2014 saw the beginning of the recovery of Nebraska's whitetail herd after several years of reduced numbers due to disease and drought. We worked with partners to study and make habitat improvements for ring-necked pheasants and least terns and piping plovers. Studies revealed that our efforts to restore Nebraska's once extinct population of river otters had been so successful that a stretch along the Platte River is now home to one of the largest concentrations of river otters in North America. As we continue to look to the future of conservation in Nebraska, 2015 will bring efforts to revitalize our public lands, form new partnerships, recruit new outdoor enthusiasts, and to provide additional opportunities for outdoor recreation that will encourage both Nebraskans and visitors to explore our great state. We do this because we know that time outdoors is time well spent, Jim Douglas

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